Madleen Gaza flotilla updates: Israel detains Greta Thunberg, 11 activists

Before you go:

For more on how the seizure of the Madleen aid vessel took place, read this.

The Madleen sent a strong message that the struggle to stop Israeli crimes continues, writes Yara Hawari in an opinion piece here.

For what happens next with the Madleen activists in Israeli custody, check this out.

And for all our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, click here.

This live page will soon be closed. Here are the day’s main developments:

• The Israeli navy intercepted and illegally seized the Madleen aid vessel in international waters when it was about 185km (100 nautical miles) from Gaza, before detaining the 12 activists on board.
• The activists are believed to be held in isolation and expected to be deported from Israel.
• Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip killed at least 60 people, including 13 hungry aid seekers near a distribution point run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
• The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that Gaza’s healthcare system is “extremely fragile” and hospitals are in urgent need of protection during Israel’s bombardment and blockade.
• Israel’s army carried out incursions on several villages in the Sha’rawiya area north of Tulkarem, in the occupied West Bank, detaining two men.
• An Israeli drone launched two missiles at a car travelling on a road in southern Lebanon, the National News Agency reported.

Israeli naval forces, far from the country’s shores, intercepted and seized a Gaza-bound ship carrying international activists. The seizure sparked accusations that Israel’s actions are a breach of international law.

Robbie Sabel, an international law expert and former legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said states don’t have the right to seize ships in international waters, but there are exceptions including during armed conflict.

But Suhad Bishara – head of the legal department at Adalah, a legal rights group in Israel representing the activists – said Israel was not justified in acting against a ship in international waters that posed no military threat.

“In principle, Israel cannot extend an arm into international waters and carry out whatever action against a ship there,” she said.

Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard agreed.

“By forcibly intercepting and blocking the Madleen, which was carrying humanitarian aid and a crew of solidarity activists, Israel has once again flouted its legal obligations towards civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip,” Callamard said in a statement.

Earlier, we reported that at least three emergency workers were killed in an Israeli air strike on the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Palestinian media now report that a journalist was also killed in the attack as the rescuers attempted to save wounded victims.

The Tuffah neighbourhood has been repeatedly struck in recent months as Israel expands its military assault on Gaza, despite mounting global concern over the civilian death toll and the worsening humanitarian catastrophe.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says that at least 184 journalists and media workers are among the tens of thousands killed in Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza.

“Since the war in Gaza started, journalists have been paying the highest price – their lives – for their reporting,” said CPJ programme director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in a statement.

The United Nations says Israel continues to prevent it from retrieving crucial fuel stocks from its warehouses in Gaza, and the move could bring already crippled international aid efforts to a halt.

“Fuel stocks in Gaza are critically low, putting further strain on critical services and humanitarian operations,” said Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonino Guterres.

He said that, over the weekend, about 250,000 litres (66,000 gallons) of fuel were looted in northern Gaza.

“Prior to this, the UN had repeatedly attempted to reach these stocks to retrieve them, but these attempts were denied by the Israeli authorities,” he added.

Since May 15, UN missions to retrieve its fuel – desperately needed to run hospitals and salination plants for drinking water – were denied by the Israeli authorities 14 times, said Haq.

“Our attempts to reach fuel supplies in Rafah in the south of Gaza also continue to be denied. The UN warns that unless a solution is found in the coming days, the entire aid operation could come to a standstill.”

Throughout the various truce negotiations between Israel and Hamas, Western news outlets have repeatedly blamed their failure on Hamas.

This week, we hear a perspective that rarely features in the coverage – the group’s own – on the negotiations and the media narratives that surround them.

Watch the Listening Post episode below:

More than 50 members of the UK Parliament have now endorsed a call by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for an independent public inquiry into Britain’s role in Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Gaza (Independent Public Inquiry) Bill, presented to Parliament last week, passed its first reading.

It proposes a formal investigation into the UK government’s involvement in Israel’s military assault on Gaza since October 2023, including arms sales, intelligence sharing and the use of Royal Air Force bases in Cyprus for alleged spy flights over Gaza.

The second reading is scheduled for July 4, and has the backing of 45 MPs from Labour, Green, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Plaid Cymru, Alliance and the SDLP.

All seven Sinn Féin MPs also support the inquiry, bringing the number to at least 50, though their policy of abstentionism prevents them from formally signing parliamentary bills.

Governments and NGOs have condemned Israel’s interception in international waters of the Madleen aid ship, which sought to bring attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s devastating war.

“We strongly condemn the cowardly and illegal Israeli attack on the Madleen as it approached Gaza with desperately needed humanitarian supplies,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said.

“We applaud Greta Thunberg and the other activists of the Madleen who bravely risked their safety and freedom to help the starving people of Gaza.”

Read the full story here.

Tens of thousands of people in Europe staged rallies after Israel stopped the Gaza aid ship Madleen and detained 12 activists in international waters.

Angry demonstrations took place in the United Kingdom and France. In Switzerland, people blocked train stations in Geneva and Lausanne to protest Israel’s military assault on Gaza, media reports said.

Some 300 protesters carrying Palestinian flags occupied two tracks at Geneva’s main station for about an hour, leading to delays and cancellations. A similar protest was staged in nearby Lausanne, where police cleared the tracks.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said earlier that “all the passengers of the ‘selfie yacht’ are safe and unharmed”, and it expected the activists to return to their home countries.

US President Donald Trump says Iran is playing a role in ongoing negotiations over Israel’s war on Gaza.

“Gaza right now is in the midst of a massive negotiation between us and Hamas and Israel, and Iran actually is involved,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

He did not elaborate on what role Iran is playing in the talks, but added: “We’ll see what’s going to happen with Gaza. We want to get the hostages back. It’s all I can tell you.”

Trump earlier had a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which he said “went well, trying to avoid death and destruction”. He again didn’t elaborate.

Israel has rejected a number of ceasefire proposals, but the latest plans include a 60-day truce, the exchange of captives and prisoners, and negotiations over Gaza’s long-term future.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to quickly free activists, including Greta Thunberg, after a naval operation that sparked angry protests in the country.

Macron “requested that the six French nationals be allowed to return to France as soon as possible”, his office said. Paris was “vigilant” and “stands by all its nationals when they are in danger”, he added.

The French government demanded Israel ensure the “protection” of all the activists in custody. Macron also called the humanitarian blockade of Gaza “a scandal” and a “disgrace”.

Rallies in Paris and at least five other cities were called by left-wing parties. Jean-Luc Melenchon, the head of the France Unbowed party, called the seizure of the Gaza-bound boat by the Israeli military “international piracy”.

A Tunisian humanitarian convoy comprised of more than 1,000 participants is making its way towards the Egyptian border to try to deliver aid to besieged Palestinians in Gaza.

Organised by a coalition of civil society groups, unions and pro-Palestine activists, the convoy is carrying medical supplies, food and other essentials, aiming to push through the Rafah crossing, which has remained largely closed to international aid for months.

Convoy leaders say their goal is to challenge the ongoing Israeli blockade and draw attention to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, where tens of thousands are on the brink of starvation and the health system is collapsing.

The effort comes in the wake of Israel’s seizure of the Madleen aid vessel, which was intercepted by Israeli naval forces as it attempted to breach the blockade by sea.

Organisers have called on other Arab and international groups to join the effort and demand unhindered humanitarian access to Israel-besieged Gaza.

US President Donald Trump has dismissed activist Greta Thunberg’s efforts to raise awareness of the disaster in Gaza. Thunberg was among the volunteers onboard the Madleen aid ship seized by Israeli forces.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said: “I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg.”

He added: “She’s a young, angry person… I think she has to go to an anger management class.”

The comments come after Thunberg was seized by Israeli commandos onboard the UK-flagged civilian vessel attempting to deliver aid to Gaza’s starving population.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, continues to arm Israel and has repeatedly used its veto to shield its ally from accountability at the UN Security Council.

The leader of al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch has targeted US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk over US backing for Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and its besieged Palestinian population.

“There are no red lines after what happened and is happening to our people in Gaza” said Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki in a half-an-hour video message, which was spread online Saturday by supporters of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

“Reciprocity is legitimate,” he said.

The message featured images of Trump and Musk, US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Read the full story here.

Only 38 percent of Gaza’s medical centres remain operational and even those are functioning only partially, according to the UN.

Thanos Gargavanis, a trauma surgeon and emergency officer with the World Health Organization, said that “the emergency department of [Nasser Hospital] receives multiple casualties every day, and it’s a lifeline for the health system in Gaza right now”.

“Hospitals should never be militarized and they should be protected at all costs,” he added.

Meanwhile, Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson with the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that in Gaza’s north, “there are no longer any functioning hospitals”.

“Many facilities, including healthcare, are either in displacement order areas or very near them including Nasser Hospital. Gaza is being erased,” she said.

Israeli officials say the seized Madleen vessel carried what amounted to less than a truckload of aid.

“This wasn’t humanitarian aid. It’s Instagram activism,” government spokesperson David Mencer said. “Meanwhile, Israel has delivered over 1,200 truckloads in the last two weeks. So who’s really feeding Gaza and who’s really feeding their own ego? Greta was not bringing aid, she was bringing herself. And she’s not here for Gaza, let’s be blunt about it. She’s here for Greta.”

Israel sealed off Gaza from all aid in the early days of the war on Gaza in 2023, but later relented under US pressure. In early March, shortly before Israel broke a ceasefire with Hamas, the country again blocked all imports including water, food, fuel and medicine.

Only minimal aid has arrived in Gaza under an Israeli scheme that forced the United Nations and other humanitarian groups from the process. The UN says the current relief entering the besieged territory is a “drop in the ocean” as Palestinians face famine.

Israeli settlers have carried out multiple attacks on Palestinians in the towns of Sinjil and al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

In Sinjil, settlers assaulted agricultural areas in al-Ma’shariya and Batn al-Halawa, where they also grazed their cattle on local crops, destroying them and blocking Palestinian farmers from accessing their lands.

Witnesses reported that settlers continued for a second day to occupy Jabal al-Batn, a southern hill considered an archaeological site, where they pitched a tent and assaulted residents who approached, the Wafa news agency reported, citing witnesses and local officials.

Iman Fuqha, a Sinjil municipality official, said that nearly half of its land has been turned into military and settlement zones, surrounded by barbed-wire fencing. She said settlers caused major losses to local farmers by seizing wheat harvests.

Meanwhile, in al-Mughayyir, settlers erected another tent east of the village, close to residents’ homes, and assaulted any Palestinians attempting to access their land.