Daijiworld Media Network - Jerusalem

Jerusalem, Jun 10: Environmental activist Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel on Tuesday after the Gaza-bound aid ship she was travelling on was intercepted by Israeli naval forces.

The 21-year-old was part of a 12-member group aboard the vessel Madleen, which was attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. The boat, organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was seized around 200 kilometers off the Gaza coast on Monday morning and later escorted to the port of Ashdod by the Israeli Navy.

Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed Thunberg’s departure with a post on X showing her aboard a flight to France. “Greta Thunberg is departing Israel on a flight to France,” it stated.

Adalah, a legal rights group representing Thunberg and other detainees, said she, along with two other activists and a journalist, agreed to leave Israel voluntarily. However, several other activists who refused deportation remain in Israeli custody, pending a hearing.

The activists said their mission aimed to highlight the humanitarian crisis in war-torn Gaza and protest the ongoing conflict. Israeli authorities, however, maintained that the attempt was a violation of its naval blockade and dismissed it as a publicity stunt, labelling the boat “the selfie yacht of the celebrities.”

Thunberg’s participation drew global attention to the protest, with rights groups calling for international scrutiny of Israel’s blockade policies and humanitarian access to Gaza.