‘Piracy': World reacts to Israel's seizure of Gaza-bound aid vessel Madleen

Al Jazeera

09-06-2025

Israel has intercepted a Gaza-bound aid ship, preventing the 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, from reaching the blockaded Palestinian territory.
Israeli forces 'forcibly intercepted' the Madleen in international waters overnight about 100 nautical miles (185km) from Gaza, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition NGO said in a statement on Monday. Al Jazeera lost contact with the vessel at 7:00 GMT.
Apart from Thunberg, those taken into custody by Israel are Palestinian French Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, Baptiste Andre, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi and Reva Viard from France; Thiago Avila from Brazil; Suayb Ordu from Turkiye; Sergio Toribio from Spain; Marco van Rennes from the Netherlands; Yasemin Acar from Germany; and Omar Faiad, a journalist with Al Jazeera Mubasher, also from France.
Israel has detained the crew for 'interrogation'.
Here's how the world has reacted:
The interception of the Madleen is a 'flagrant violation of international law', Hamas said in a statement, calling for the activists on board to be released and saying it holds Israel 'fully accountable for their safety'.
'Israel has no legal authority to restrict access to Palestine since such is within the exclusive right of the Palestinian people,' said the rights organisation Al-Haq, which is based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
'The assault on this flotilla, since it happened in international waters, is considered a form of piracy under international law,' said Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesman for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Israel's interception of the Madleen is a 'clear violation of international law' that 'once again demonstrates that Israel is acting as a terror state', Turkiye's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
President Emmanuel Macron 'has asked that our six French nationals be allowed to return to France as soon as possible,' said the Elysee Palace in a press release. 'We have asked to be able to exercise our consular protection over them' and to 'visit them', Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot added.
Spain has summoned Dan Poraz, charge d'affaires at the Israeli embassy in Madrid, reported the Spanish newspaper El Pais and Al Jazeera Arabic, quoting a source at Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Jewish Council of Australia has expressed 'grave concerns for the activists on board the Gaza Freedom Flotilla' and called 'on the Australian government to urgently intervene to secure the immediate release of the vessel and safety of the crew'.
'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.'
Israel's seizure of the Madleen 'outside Israeli territorial waters' is a 'blatant violation of international law', said The Left, the European Parliament faction that Hassan belongs to. 'The arrest of the crew members and the confiscation of aid intended for a population in immediate humanitarian distress is unacceptable and is clearly part of a wider strategy to starve and massacre Palestinians in Gaza while hiding Israeli war crimes from the world.'
'Madleen must be released immediately,' United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Francesca Albanese said. 'Breaking the siege is a legal duty for states and a moral imperative for all of us. Every Mediterranean port should send boats with aid, solidarity and humanity to Gaza. They shall sail together – united, they will be unstoppable.'
'As the occupying power (as recognised by the ICJ [International Court of Justice]), Israel has a legal obligation to ensure civilians in Gaza have sufficient food and medicine. They should have let Madleen deliver its humanitarian supplies to Gaza,' said Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International, asserting that Israel's interception of the Madleen 'violates international law'.