Greta Thunberg has said she was abducted by Israeli forces after a flotilla of civilian boats carrying aid to Gaza was intercepted at sea, releasing a pre-recorded video in which she declares she has been taken against her will as troops boarded vessels and detained hundreds of activists. The footage emerged as governments and protest groups across several continents reacted to Israel’s operation against the Global Sumud flotilla, which organisers said comprised more than 40 small craft with around 500 people on board, including parliamentarians, lawyers and campaigners from Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Israeli officials said the passengers were in good health and would be deported in the coming days after being brought ashore at the southern port of Ashdod, while insisting that the convoy was attempting to breach a lawful blockade and approach what they described as an active combat zone.
Thunberg’s video, which her team prepared to be posted if communications from the boat were cut, opens with her identifying herself and stating: “If you are watching this video, I have been abducted and taken against my will by Israeli forces.” She adds that the group’s “humanitarian mission was non-violent and abiding by international law,” framing the interception as an unlawful seizure in international waters. The 22-year-old Swedish activist, who rose to prominence as a teenager for school strikes and blunt appeals to world leaders to act on climate change, had joined the voyage after weeks of plans by maritime solidarity groups to challenge Israel’s naval restrictions and deliver food and medicine by sea.
Israel’s foreign ministry said footage shot by its personnel showed Thunberg on deck under guard during the boarding operation and that all passengers were being processed before removal to immigration custody and eventual flights to European destinations. Officials characterised the flotilla as a provocation and said one remaining craft was still at a distance but would be stopped if it attempted to approach. The military said it had repeatedly warned the convoy that it was nearing a closed area and that any aid should be routed through authorised channels rather than by sea. Activists on several boats had kept live streams running until signals dropped, showing armed personnel in helmets boarding in darkness and passengers wearing life vests with hands visible.
Organisers reported that more than 450 volunteers were detained as ships were stopped roughly 70 to 80 nautical miles from Gaza’s coast, with some passengers transferred onto a larger vessel before being taken to shore. They said at least one boat, named by supporters as the Marinette, continued under way farther out and was still broadcasting positions after most of the flotilla had been intercepted. Other accounts suggested a separate craft briefly crossed into Gaza’s territorial waters before being forced back, a claim Israel did not confirm. By Thursday evening, legal groups working with the convoy said detainees were bound for the Ketziot complex in the Negev prior to deportation.