The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it would deport four activists who were detained aboard an aid ship bound for Gaza, including the environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg.
Ms. Thunberg and another passenger were promptly flown out of Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, and two more passengers were expected to be sent home later on Tuesday, according to Israeli officials.
Another eight passengers from the ship, called the Madleen, refused to sign deportation documents and will be brought before an Israeli immigration tribunal to carry out their deportation, the ministry said.
Israeli forces intercepted the boat, operated by a pro-Palestinian activist group called the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, on Monday. The passengers also included Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament. In February, she was blocked from entering Israel for promoting boycotts of the country.
At a news conference, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, described the ship’s voyage as a public relations stunt. He said it was Israel’s intention to deliver to Gaza “the tiny amount of aid on the yacht that they did not consume.”
The campaigners had said that the boat was transporting urgently needed goods, including baby formula, food and medical supplies, and that they planned to breach Israel’s longstanding naval blockade of Gaza.
Ms. Thunberg has been an outspoken opponent of Israel’s blockade on the enclave and its conduct of the war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel recently imposed an 80-day blockade on food and other aid from entering Gaza that it lifted last month. Hunger is now widespread in Gaza, according to international aid organizations, and a new Israeli-backed food distribution system has been marred by chaos.
“We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying,” Ms. Thunberg said last week. “Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity,” she added.
Israel says its naval blockade is necessary to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons into the coastal enclave.
Adalah, an Israeli human rights group and legal center that focuses on Palestinian rights, said that the eight activists who had refused to leave would contest their deportation at the tribunal on Tuesday.
The group added that its lawyers had traveled to Givon Prison in Ramleh, near Ben Gurion Airport, where the eight volunteers were being held, to represent them at the hearings.
A spokeswoman for Israel’s immigration authority, Sabin Hadad, confirmed that four of the activists had waived their right to a hearing and said that the other eight had been transferred to Givon Prison for up to 96 hours.
The Foreign Ministry later said that Ms. Thunberg had left Israel on a flight to France and posted photographs on social media that appeared to show her on a plane. The ministry later clarified that Sweden, Ms. Thunberg’s home country, was her final destination.
A spokeswoman for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, Ann Wright, confirmed that Ms. Thunberg was on a plane to Paris and then to Stockholm.
The coalition “generally encourages high-profile volunteers to leave as soon as possible to be able to speak directly to the media about their experiences to counter what the Israeli government may be saying,” Ms. Wright said.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition leads an international grass-roots campaign that opposes Israel’s longstanding naval blockade of Gaza by sending ships carrying humanitarian aid to the enclave. The Madleen set sail from Sicily this month.
Israel vowed to prevent the ship from reaching Gaza, saying that its military would use any means to stop it from breaching the blockade.
The Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the Madleen had been diverted toward Israeli shores. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said that its activists had been “kidnapped” by the Israeli military.
Isabel Kershner, a Times correspondent in Jerusalem, has been reporting on Israeli and Palestinian affairs since 1990.
John Yoon is a Times reporter based in Seoul who covers breaking and trending news.
The post Israel Deports Greta Thunberg and Other Activists on Gaza Aid Boat appeared first on New York Times.
