“I don’t care if they send everything they have, the whole army. Free Palestine!”

Those words of courage and defiance were delivered by Spanish activist Sergio Toribio during an afternoon livestream on June 8 from on board the Madleen, an 18-metre sailing vessel coursing across the Mediterranean towards Gaza with its cargo of humanitarian aid.

Earlier that day, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had warned that “Israel will act against any attempt to break the blockade or support terror groups — by sea, air or land. You should turn back because you will not reach Gaza.”

But the crew of the Madleen, 11 activists and one journalist, all volunteers and part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), never had any intention of turning back.  

Among the largely young and European crew on the Madleen were Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, French MEP Rima Hassan, and Turkish-born German activist Yasemin Acar, along with others from France, Brazil, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey.

The Madleen had set sail from Sicily on June 1 carrying food, baby formula and medical supplies urgently needed by the starving and bombarded Palestinian population in Gaza. The crew hoped their mission would finally break the siege and open a humanitarian maritime aid corridor.

But at 2.40am Central European Time on Monday, the Madleen was attacked by Israeli quadcopters, spraying what appeared to be chemicals onto the boat. On board, the activists scrambled into life jackets, searched for their passports and kept filming.

“It’s burning my eyes,” said Acar as she live-streamed from her phone. Then the communications went dead. “Communications are jammed and disturbing sounds are being played over the radio,” the FFC posted on Telegram.

At 3.02 am, the flotilla’s Telegram account posted a photo of the Madleen activists seated on board with their hands raised. “Connection has been lost on the ‘Madleen’. Israeli army have boarded the vessel,” the post said.

“The ship was unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted, and its life-saving cargo — including baby formula, food and medical supplies — confiscated,” said a press release from the FFC shortly afterwards.

Then came the dismissive post on X from the Israeli Foreign Ministry along with a photo of the Madleen crew seated in their life jackets. “All the passengers of the ‘selfie yacht’ are safe and unharmed,” it said. “They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over.”

But the “show” is not over in Gaza, and Israel had just stopped the very act it was bragging about, the provision of food and water to those who most desperately need it, the besieged residents of the Gaza Strip.

As the Star went to press, the whereabouts of the Madleen crew were still unknown to their families and FFC organisers.

“They have been taken against their will while they were sailing peacefully and lawfully in international waters,” said Huwaida Arraf, an American-Palestinian lawyer with the FFC, in an interview with Al Jazeera. “They were in international waters sailing toward Palestinian territorial waters, not getting near Israeli waters. So it needs to be made very clear that Israel has absolutely no jurisdiction, no lawful authority to take over this vessel.”

Calling Israel’s actions a war crime, the FFC said in a statement on Monday afternoon that “Israel’s threats and attacks against peaceful ships like Madleen, carrying essential aid and international human rights defenders, are part of its broader pattern of impunity and disregard for international norms.”

Since the interception, the FCC had heard nothing further from the Madleen’s crew. “As of now, their whereabouts are unknown,” the statement said.

The group also posted a series of pre-recorded videos by crew members on Telegram. “If you are watching this video that means I have been detained or kidnapped by Israel or another complicit force,” each said, then urged family, friends and other comrades to press their respective governments to get them released, break relations with Israel and end the genocide.

Those messages prompted a spontaneous demonstration in Paris, with crowds gathered in the Place de la Republique demanding their release. There were six French nationals on board the Madleen, including MEP Hassan and Omar Faiad, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher who was able to broadcast the early moments of the raid before all communications were cut.

The Madleen is a British-flagged ship, which obliges the British government to protect it. “The UK must act: defend the ship and crew or remain complicit in Israel’s blockade, aggression and genocide,” said Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana, hours before the boat was intercepted.

But the British government did nothing. Instead, Royal Air Force surveillance jets flew over the boat late on Sunday, according to individuals monitoring flight tracking websites.

Before the capture of the Madleen, independent MP Jeremy Corbyn said: “The Freedom Flotilla sailing toward Gaza is not just carrying life-saving aid. It is carrying solidarity, hope and our shared humanity.” The Independent Alliance of MPs, of which Corbyn is a member, had also put out a statement urging Israel not to intercept the Madleen.

An earlier attempt by the Freedom Flotilla to sail to Gaza on another aid boat, the Conscience, ended on May 2 when Israeli drones bombed the boat after it left port in Malta. The activists aboard were evacuated unharmed, but the 12-person crew was left stranded at sea on the disabled boat for two more weeks before reaching safety.

“We know Israel tried to send us a message four weeks ago by bombing us in the heart of Europe, and Europe just kept silent about it,” said Acar. “They were complicit because Malta allowed them into their airspace, so they were aware that this attack would be conducted by Israel,” she said, warning that Israel has now struck “into the backyard of Europe.”

Throughout the voyage, the Madleen crew had been in constant touch with Palestinians in Gaza, many of them sending messages back from the beaches where they are trapped in camps, and expressing longing for the boat’s arrival.

During its journey, the Madleen encountered an unexpected detour when it was called upon to go to the aid of a foundering dinghy carrying about 40 Sudanese refugees. The Madleen rescued four of them who jumped into the sea after a notorious Libyan coastguard vessel arrived that would have taken them captive and returned them to Sudan. The four were eventually delivered safely into the custody of Frontex, the European Union’s border and coastguard agency.

All on board the Madleen knew the risks they were taking and trained diligently in non-violent life-preserving procedures before and during the voyage. All were also acutely aware of the fate of a similar endeavour, when in 2010, nine of the Turkish crew of civilian volunteers aboard the Mavi Marmara, part of a humanitarian aid flotilla of six ships headed for Gaza, were shot dead by Israeli forces during a raid on the boat. A tenth died of his injuries four years later.

When asked during an earlier interview with the US television news programme Democracy Now! about the dangers they would face, Thunberg said: “I happen to have a platform for some reason, and then it is my moral obligation to use that platform. And if my presence on this boat can make a difference, if that can show in any way that the world has not forgotten about Palestine, and to try once again to attempt to break the siege and open up a humanitarian corridor and deliver the extremely needed humanitarian aid, then that is a risk I am willing to take.”

Linda Pentz Gunter is a writer based in Takoma Park, Maryland.