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The Israeli defence minister has threatened to �take all necessary
measures� to prevent a humanitarian ship carrying climate campaigner Greta Thunberg from reaching Gaza.

The Madleen, a boat operated by the activist group Freedom Flotilla
Coalition (FFC), says it is attempting to reach the shores of the
territory to bring in a symbolic amount of aid and raise international awareness of the continuing humanitarian crisis.

But on Sunday, Israel Katz ordered the Israeli military to stop the ship
from getting anywhere near Gaza.

�I have instructed the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] to act so that the hate flotilla � does not reach the shores of Gaza � and to take all necessary measures to that end,� Katz said in a statement.

�To the antisemitic Greta [Thunberg] and her friends who echo Hamas
propaganda, I say clearly: You�d better turn back � because you will not
reach Gaza. Israel will act against any attempt to break the blockade or
to assist terrorist organisations � by sea, by air, and by land.�

Thunberg, who has said she is taking part in the mission �because the
moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity�, has rejected previous Israeli accusations of antisemitism.

On board the vessel alongside her 10 other activists from Germany, France, Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands. They include Rima
Hassan, a French member of the European parliament of Palestinian descent
who has been barred from entering Israel.

Responding to Katz on Sunday, they said: �The statement by Israel�s
defence minister is yet another example of Israel threatening the unlawful
use of force against civilians � and attempting to justify that violence
with smears.

�We will not be intimidated,� it added. �The world is watching.�

As of Sunday evening, the Madleen, which left the port of Catania in
Sicily, southern Italy, on 1 June, was approximately 160 nautical miles
from Gaza.

�We are monitoring the situation closely,� the FFC said. �We remain calm, resolute, and prepared for the possibility of an Israeli attack. We
reiterate our call to world governments to demand that Israel stand down. Israel has no right to obstruct our effort to reach Gaza.�

Israel�s blockade on Gaza has been in place for years, even before the Israel-Hamas war that erupted in October 2023 after the Hamas attacks on
Israel in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 people
were taken hostage.

It was slightly eased in mid-May after nearly three months, allowing a
limited amount of humanitarian aid into the territory. But malnutrition is spreading, medics and aid workers have warned, with UN officials
describing Gaza as �the hungriest place on Earth�.

Katz said on Sunday that the blockade was essential to Israel�s national security as it seeks to destroy Hamas. �The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to
prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,� he said.

More than 54,000 Palestinians have died during Israel�s assault, according
to Gaza health authorities, with much of the territory reduced to rubble.

Israel�s plan to concentrate food delivery in hubs guarded by private
security contractors and the Israeli military and provided by the US-
backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has proved to be chaotic and dangerous, critics say.

At least four people were killed and others wounded by Israeli fire on
Sunday, about a kilometre from a food distribution point in Gaza,
Palestinian medics and officials said. The deaths bring the number of
people who have been killed while trying to find food in Gaza since 27
May, when GHF became responsible for civilian food provision, to 110. More
than 1,000 have been injured.

Israel said it was expecting to intercept the flotilla in the next 48
hours.

Before leaving Sicily on board the Madleen, which is carrying a symbolic
amount of rice and infant formula, Thunberg told reporters: �We are doing
this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying. Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity. And, no
matter how dangerous this mission is, it�s not even near as dangerous as
the silence of the entire world in the face of the livestreamed genocide.�

Thunberg, who became an internationally famous climate activist after organising protests in her native Sweden, had been due to board a previous Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, last month. It was bombed by drones
and disabled while in international waters off Malta as it headed towards
the Palestinian territory.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/08/israel-katz-threatens-to- use-all-necessary-measures-to-stop-gaza-bound-aid-ship

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