Israel Deports Greta Thunberg After Intercepting Gaza-Bound Aid Boat

Tel Aviv: Israel said campaigner Greta Thunberg left the country on a flight to Sweden via France on Tuesday, after she was detained along with other activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat.

Of the 12 people on board the Madleen carrying food and supplies for Gaza, five French activists were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily.

Israeli forces intercepted the boat, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, in international waters on Monday and towed it to the port of Ashdod.

They were then transferred to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the foreign ministry said.

"Greta Thunberg just departed Israel on a flight to Sweden (via France)," Israel's foreign ministry said on its official X account on Tuesday, along with a photo of the activist sitting on board a plane.

Thunberg, one of the world's most prominent voices in the fight against climate change, has avoided air travel for years, and once sailed for a fortnight on a zero-emissions yacht to reach a UN summit in New York.

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Five French activists who were also aboard the Madleen were set to face an Israeli judge, the French foreign minister said.

"Our consul was able to see the six French nationals arrested by the Israeli authorities last night," Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X.

"One of them has agreed to leave voluntarily and should return today. The other five will be subject to forced deportation proceedings."

In the early hours of Tuesday, Israel's foreign ministry said the activist group had arrived at Ben Gurion airport to "return to their home countries".

"Those who refuse to sign deportation documents and leave Israel will be brought before a judicial authority," it said on X.

The vessel carrying French, German, Brazilian, Turkish, Swedish, Spanish and Dutch activists had the stated aim of delivering humanitarian aid and breaking the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.

In what organisers called a "symbolic act", hundreds of participants in a land convoy crossed the border into Libya from Tunisia with the aim of reaching Gaza, whose entire population the UN has warned is at risk of famine.

Israel's interception of the Madleen about 185 kilometres (115 miles) west of the coast of Gaza, was condemned by Turkiye as a "heinous attack" and Iran denounced it as "a form of piracy" in international waters.

In May, another Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, was damaged in international waters off Malta as it headed to Gaza, with the activists saying they suspected an Israeli drone attack.

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