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The Israeli military will show Greta Thunberg and other activists footage of the 7 October attacks after a Gaza-bound aid boat was diverted to Israel, the country’s foreign minister has said.

Early on Monday, the Israeli foreign ministry said that the British-flagged yacht Madleen – operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) – “is safely making its way to the shores of Israel”.

All passengers were safe and unharmed, the ministry added, sharing footage of the activists being handed sandwiches and water.

In a statement via his spokesperson, defence minister Israel Katz said that he has instructed the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to screen footage of the 7 October attacks for those aboard when they arrive at Ashdod Port.

Greta Thunberg was "safe and in good spirits" while en route to Israel, the foreign ministry said. Pic: Israel Foreign Ministry
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Greta Thunberg was ‘safe and in good spirits’ while en route to Israel, the foreign ministry said. Pic: Israel Foreign Ministry

“Antisemitic Greta and her Hamas-supporting friends should see exactly what the Hamas terrorist organisation – which they came to support and act on behalf of – truly is,” he said.

“They should see the atrocities committed against women, the elderly, and children, and understand whom Israel is fighting to defend itself.”

He then added, “I commend the IDF for its swift and safe takeover” of the vessel, and said the Israeli military “will continue its just and moral fight against the Hamas murderers until their defeat, the release of all hostages, and the full restoration of Israel’s security”.

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Great Thunberg and other activists are given water and sandwiches. Pic: Israel Foreign Ministry
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Ms Thunberg and other activists after their boat was diverted to Israel. Pic: Israel Foreign Ministry

Israel’s foreign ministry said earlier that those aboard the Madleen “are expected to return to their home countries,” and that the humanitarian aid aboard the ship would be transferred to Gaza through established channels.

Ms Thunberg was “safe and in good spirits” while en route to Israel, it added, calling the vessel “the ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities'”.

The FFC claimed the passengers on the yacht had been “kidnapped by Israeli forces” and released pre-recorded messages from them after previously saying that the “Israeli army had boarded” the vessel.

Climate campaigner Ms Thunberg, 22, was one of a dozen activists aboard the Madleen, which set sail from Sicily on 1 May on a mission aiming to break Israel’s sea blockade.

Greta Thunberg in a pre-recorded video, released after the Madleen was diverted to Israel. Pic: FFC
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Ms Thunberg pictured in a pre-recorded video, released after the Madleen was diverted to Israel. Pic: FFC

Greta Thunberg aboard the vessel on 2 June. Pic: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/Reuters
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The climate campaigner aboard the Madleen on 2 June. Pic: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/Reuters

Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament, who is of Palestinian descent, was also on the boat.

She has been barred from entering Israel because of her opposition to Israel’s policies towards Palestinians.

Ms Hassan wrote on X as the FFC’s yacht was allegedly surrounded by other vessels: “The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2am.”

The diversion of the Madleen came after Mr Katz said that he had instructed the IDF to prevent the vessel from reaching the shore and to “take whatever measures necessary”.

Greta Thunberg on board the Madleen heading for Gaza
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The Madleen was heading for Gaza

Addressing Ms Thunberg and the other activists on Sunday, he said: “You should turn back – because you will not reach Gaza.”

Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month after a three-month total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas and preventing the group from importing arms.

But humanitarian workers have warned of famine unless there is an end to the blockade and the 20-month war, which began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, that killed more than 1,200 people.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign.

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Why is Greta sailing to Gaza?

An attempt last month by Freedom Flotilla to reach Gaza by sea failed after another of the group’s vessels was attacked by two drones while sailing in international waters off Malta.

The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the front section of the ship.

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Francesca Albanese, United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, also urged other boats to challenge the Gaza blockade.

She said on social media: “Madleen’s journey may have ended, but the mission isn’t over.

“Every Mediterranean port must send boats with aid & solidarity to Gaza.”

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25% of young children and pregnant women malnourished in Gaza, charity says, as PM vows to fly critical medical cases to UK

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25% of young children and pregnant women malnourished in Gaza, charity says, as PM vows to fly critical medical cases to UK

A charity has warned 25% of young children and pregnant women in Gaza are now malnourished, with Sir Keir Starmer vowing to evacuate children who need “critical medical assistance” to the UK.

MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Israel’s “deliberate use of starvation as a weapon” has reached unprecedented levels – with patients and healthcare workers both fighting to survive.

It claimed that, at one of its clinics in Gaza City, rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have trebled over the past two weeks – and described the lack of food and water on the ground as “unconscionable”.

Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pic: Reuters

The charity also criticised the high number of fatalities seen at aid distribution sites, with one British surgeon accusing IDF soldiers of shooting civilians “almost like a game of target practice”.

MSF’s deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, said: “Those who go to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s food distributions know that they have the same chance of receiving a sack of flour as they do of leaving with a bullet in their head.”

The UN also estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food – the majority near the militarised distribution sites of the US-backed aid distribution scheme run by the GHF.

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‘Many more deaths unless Israelis allow food in’

In a statement on Friday, the IDF had said it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians”, and reports of incidents at aid distribution sites were “under examination”.

The GHF has also previously disputed that these deaths were connected with its organisation’s operations, with director Johnnie Moore telling Sky News: “We just want to feed Gazans. That’s the only thing that we want to do.”

Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and has accused the UN of failing to distribute it, in what the foreign ministry has labelled as “a deliberate ploy” to defame the country.

‘Humanitarian catastrophe must end’

In a video message posted on X late last night, Sir Keir Starmer condemned the scenes in Gaza as “appalling” and “unrelenting” – and said “the images of starvation and desperation are utterly horrifying”.

The prime minister added: “The denial of aid to children and babies is completely unjustifiable, just as the continued captivity of hostages is completely unjustifiable.

“Hundreds of civilians have been killed while seeking aid – children, killed, whilst collecting water. It is a humanitarian catastrophe, and it must end.”

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Israeli military show aid waiting inside Gaza

Sir Keir confirmed that the British government is now “accelerating efforts” to evacuate children from Gaza who need critical medical assistance, so they can be brought to the UK for specialist treatment.

Israel has now said that foreign countries will be able to airdrop aid into Gaza. While the PM says the UK will now “do everything we can” to get supplies in via this route, he said this decision has come “far too late”.

Read more:
WHO: Gaza faces ‘manmade’ starvation
UN: People in Gaza ‘walking corpses’

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Last year, the RAF dropped aid into Gaza, but humanitarian organisations warned it wasn’t enough and was potentially dangerous. In March 2024, five people were killed when an aid parachute failed and supplies fell on them.

For now, Sir Keir has rejected calls to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and recognise a Palestinian state despite more than 220 MPs signing a cross-party letter to demand he takes this step.

The prime minister is instead demanding a ceasefire and “lasting peace” – and says he will only consider an independent state as part of a negotiated peace deal.

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Israel allows foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza

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Israel allows foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza

Israel has said foreign countries can drop aid into Gaza from today.

A senior IDF official told Sky News on Friday: “Starting today, Israel will allow foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza.

“Starting this afternoon, the WCK organisation began reactivating its kitchens.”

Humanitarian aid organisation World Central Kitchen paused its operation in Gaza in November after a number of its workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike last year.

Aid workers in Gaza – who help provide food, medicine and shelter for the millions displaced there – have been affected by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

In recent weeks hundreds of Palestinians have been killed while waiting for food and aid.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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‘Almost like a game of target practice’: British surgeon says IDF shooting Gazans at aid points

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'Almost like a game of target practice': British surgeon says IDF shooting Gazans at aid points

A British surgeon who recently returned from Gaza has told Sky News that there is “profound malnutrition” among the population – and claims IDF soldiers are shooting civilians at aid points “like a game of target practice”.

Dr Nick Maynard spent four weeks working inside Nasser Hospital, where a lack of food has left medics struggling to treat children and toddlers.

The conditions inside the hospital, in the south of the Strip, have been documented in a Sky News report.

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Malnourished girl: ‘The war changed me’

Dr Maynard told The World with Yalda Hakim: “I met several doctors who had cartons of formula feed in their luggage – and they were all confiscated by the Israeli border guards. Nothing else got confiscated, just the formula feed.

“There were four premature babies who died during the first two weeks when I was in Nasser Hospital – and there will be many, many more deaths until the Israelis allow proper food to get in there.”

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 24, 2025. REUTERS/Khamis Al-Rifi
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Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters

In other developments:

• Israel and the US have recalled their teams from Gaza ceasefire talks

• US envoy Steve Witkoff has accused Hamas “of failing to act in good faith”

• France has announced that it will recognise the state of Palestine

• An influential group of MPs is calling on the UK to “immediately” do the same

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‘Starvation used as a weapon’

‘They were shells’

Dr Nick Maynard has been going to Gaza for the past 15 years – and this is his third visit to the territory since the war began.

The British surgeon added that virtually all of the kids in the paediatric unit of Nasser Hospital are being fed with sugar water.

“They’ve got a small amount of formula feed for very small babies, but not enough,” he warned.

Dr Maynard said the lack of aid has also had a huge impact on his colleagues.

“I saw people I’d known for years and I didn’t recognise some of them,” he added. “Two colleagues had lost 20kg and 30kg respectively. They were shells, they’re all hungry.

“They’re going to work every day, then going home to their tents where they have no food.”

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Ex-Gaza aid worker claims personnel shot at Palestinians

IDF ‘shooting Gazans at aid points’

Elsewhere in the interview, Dr Maynard claimed Israeli soldiers are shooting civilians at aid points “almost like a game of target practice”.

He has operated on boys as young as 11 who had been “shot at food distribution points” run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

“They had gone to get food for their starving families and they were shot,” he said.

“I operated on one 12-year-old boy who died on the operating table because his injuries were so severe.”

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Gaza deaths increase when aid sites open

Dr Maynard continued: “What was even more distressing was the pattern of injuries that we saw, the clustering of injuries to particular body parts on certain days.

“One day they’d be coming in predominately with gunshot wounds to the head or the neck, another day to the abdomen.

“Twelve days ago, four young teenage boys came in, all of whom had been shot in the testicles and deliberately so.

“The clustering was far too obvious to be accidental, and it seemed to us like this was almost like a game of target practice.

“I would never have believed this possible unless I’d witnessed this with my own eyes.”

Palestinians are brought to Nasser Hospital after being shot by Israeli forces while gathering to receive bags of flour from aid trucks, according to hospital officials and eyewitnesses, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)
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Palestinians brought to Nasser Hospital after being shot by Israeli forces, according to hospital officials and eyewitnesses. Pic: AP

Sky News has contacted the Israeli Defence Forces for comment.

An IDF spokesperson previously told Sky News it “strongly rejected” the accusations that its forces were instructed to deliberately shoot at civilians.

“To be clear, IDF directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians,” the spokesperson said, adding that the incidents are “being examined by the relevant IDF authorities”.

Read more:
Medics at Nasser hospital struggle to feed children
Gaza food situation ‘worst its ever been’

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Israeli military show aid waiting inside Gaza

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been managing the supply of aid to Gaza since Israel lifted an 11-week blockade in May.

It has four aid distribution sites, all of which are located in Israeli military zones, with journalists prohibited from entering.

More than 1,000 people have been reported killed while trying to receive food aid since the GHF took over, according to the UN.

UNRWA, its relief agency for Gaza, has heavily criticised the scheme.

Commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said: “The so-called ‘GHF’ distribution scheme is a sadistic death trap. Snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they are given a licence to kill.”

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Just a fraction of the aid trucks needed are making it into the enclave, the UN has said, while multiple aid groups and the World Health Organisation have warned Gazans are facing “mass starvation”.

Mr Lazzarini quoted a colleague on Thursday and said malnourished Palestinians in the Gaza “are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses”.

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