ISRAEL detained Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists abducted from a Gaza-bound aid boat early this morning as it continued to enforce the blockade of Gaza which has caused widespread starvation.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which organised the humanitarian mission, said activists were kidnapped from the yacht Madleen by Israeli forces while trying to deliver desperately needed aid.

“Israel has no legal authority to detain international volunteers aboard the Madleen,” said human rights lawyer and FFC organiser Huwaida Arraf.

“This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the International Court of Justice’s binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza.” 

The FFC labelled the detention “arbitrary and unlawful” and called for the immediate release of all those detained.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused the activists of staging a public relations stunt, saying in a post on X that “the 'selfie yacht of the celebrities is safely making its way to the shores of Israel.”'

In a message released after the boat was stalled, Ms Thunberg said: “I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to [secure my release] and the others as soon as possible.”

Campaigners have hit out at the detentions.

The British-based Palestine Coalition, which has organised more than two dozen massive demonstrations in London, called for the immediate release of everyone on the Madleen, which was flying under a British flag.

The coalition said: “The civilians on board the Madleen were attempting to deliver aid to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, to symbolically break Israel’s immoral and illegal siege of nearly two decades.

“Since March, Israel has completely denied access for food and aid to Palestinians in Gaza and in the past week has exploited their hunger and desperation to lure them to ‘distribution centres’ where they have been shot and killed in large numbers.

“The Freedom Flotilla activists, including Greta Thunberg and French MEP Rima Hassan, were compelled to act because of the absolute failure of the international community to end the siege.

“The British government has so far done nothing more than issue weak statements in the face of Israel’s genocide.”

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn told the Morning Star: “The Madleen sailed to Gaza with one intention: to save the lives of Palestinians being starved to death by Israel. Its interception is just as illegal as the siege it was trying to break.

“The flotilla was not just carrying life-saving aid. It was carrying solidarity, hope and our shared humanity,” he added.

More than 50 MPs now support Mr Corbyn’'s call for an independent, public inquiry into Britain’'s role in Israeli operations in Gaza.

The second reading of his Gaza (Independent Public Inquiry) Bill is now tabled for Friday July 4.

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said: “This is genocidal piracy on the high seas, carried out against a vessel flying the British flag. Yet where is the immediate condemnation and action from the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary? 

“Britain must stop arming Israel and impose a total ban on all trade which enables its genocide.”

Offering solidarity to all those under Israeli arrest, Ms German urged full support for an emergency demonstration on Monday evening at Downing Street.

Scottish Greens Co-Leader Patrick Harvie MSP described the detentions as “another horrifying violation of international law by the Israeli authorities.”

Liz McKean from War on Want accused the British government of “being on the wrong side of history, completely silent as 12 brave activists have been unlawfully detained by a state known for its shameful use of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinians in detention.”

Left former MP Claudia Webbe said: “The Madleen reflected the beating heart of internationalism, a floating rebuke to imperial cruelty.”

And UN special rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese said the boat’s crew were “ordinary people stepping up where states continue to fail, risking everything to defend human rights — breaking the siege on Gaza.”

Ms Albanese announced that a 7,000 strong convoy from Tunisia and Algeria was now heading overland to break the siege.

“Together, they’ll head to Rafah. United, we can make it. United, we will — human rights are for all — or they are for none.”

Black Agenda Report executive editor Margaret Kimberley likewise praised the crew for acting where governments had not.

“Because the nations of the collective West give Israel military, financial, and diplomatic support, and because they prevent the [International Criminal Court] and the [International Court of Justice] from acting on their mandates of ending and punishing war crimes, individuals have come forward in an effort to end the genocide.”

Amnesty International’s secretary-general Agnes Callamard accused Israel of  once again flouting “its legal obligations towards civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip and [demonstrating] its chilling contempt for legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice.

“The crew were unarmed activists and human rights defenders on a humanitarian mission, they must be released immediately and unconditionally. They must also be protected from torture and other ill-treatment pending their release.

“Until we see real, concrete steps taken by governments worldwide — signalling an end to their blanket support for Israel — it will have carte blanche to continue inflicting relentless death and suffering on Palestinians.”

Meanwhile, in Gaza, Palestinians say Israeli forces killed at least six people today as they headed towards a food distribution centre, the latest in a number of shootings that have killed at least 127 people and wounded hundreds since the start of a new food distribution system, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israel and the United States say the new system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is designed to circumvent Hamas, but it has been rejected by the UN and major aid groups.

The foundation claims there has been no violence in or around the centres themselves, but the US- and Israeli-backed group has repeatedly warned would-be food recipients that stepping off the road designated by the military for people to reach the centres represents “a great danger.”