Climate activist, Greta Thunberg and other activists were aboard a yacht named the Madleen that carried baby formula, food, and other essential aid for Gaza. The Palestinians have been starving since March 2, 2025, when Israel initiated a blockade preventing food and other aid from entering the strip. Some in Gaza are just days away from dying of starvation.
Many children already died from malnutrition. Most of their photos were taken after they died, but I don’t want to traumatize anyone by sharing them on a post not marked as NSFW. There’s a photo in our library of a little girl who was still alive when the photo was taken, but has since died. It’s difficult to look at, but please share with anyone who isn’t aware—or doesn’t believe—that people are starving to death in Gaza.
This little girl was dying of malnutrition when this photo was taken. She, like many other children, died because food hasn’t been able to enter the Gaza Strip since March 2, 2025.
Greta Thunberg Pre-Recorded Video
Back to the main subject of this news report: Greta Thunberg pre-recorded a video to be released in the event that her and the other activists on board were arrested by the IDF that has gone viral today.
Another video recorded by passengers of the Madleen showed a white, powdery substance being dropped onto the boat from an Israeli drone along with loud sounds and a male voice. A passenger can be heard explaining that they’re [the IDF] broadcasting all of that noise to intentionally jam the yacht’s communications systems.
An Israeli cabinet member said that under no circumstances was the IDF to allow that yacht to make it to Gaza. The soldiers who boarded the ship confiscated all of the baby formula, food, and other supplies the group was trying to get to Palestinians in need. Greta knew there wasn’t much of a chance they’d actually make it there, but she went anyway in hopes of raising awareness of what Israel is doing in Gaza.
I’m just a starry-eyed optimist-activist, so if I could make anything happen now it would be this: Since the IDF has detained a group of people trying to do something to help people who are starving, every country should now send someone out on a ship headed to Palestine with whatever aid it can carry. Some of them will be intercepted, but if they’re overwhelmed by so many ships all at once, some of them will make it. If they can map out a location along the beach where there are citizens, but no IDF, they could quickly unload the aid and task whoever they find to get it to people who need it most.
I’m not so naïve that I believe people starving to death are going to give food away to someone else, but it doesn’t hurt to try! The point is to show Palestinians that they are not alone or forgotten. So many feel like the world just doesn’t care. It feels that way at times when you don’t see more people caring as much as Greta Thunberg in order to risk her safety to get something… anything to people in desperate need.
If we do nothing, we’re allowing the “bad guys” to win. College campuses all over the world protested the slaughter of citizens in Gaza. If we could just get democratic nations to “protest” by feeding the people Israel is attempting to starve, it would be incredible. But, again, I’m just a starry-eyed optimist who likes to imagine things as they I think they should be.
Here is the second video showing the Madleen being intercepted by the IDF. You can briefly see the white substance that was dropped onto the boat. My first thought was “White phosphorus” but they wouldn’t actually want to hurt these kids… right?
Moment the IDF Intercepted the Maldeen and Dropped the White Substance
A post on X from Israel called the Madleen a ‘selfie-yacht’ and Fox News has been using the same term in their headlines and “news” reports. The post ended with, “The show is over.”
It was obvious that they recorded themselves giving the passengers sandwiches to help with the IDF’s “image.” But after killing over 18,000 children in Gaza, their reputation can never be “repaired.” Especially after Smotrich and Gvir made public statements about plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza so they can steal the land. They’ve already increased the number of settlers kicking Palestinians out of their homes and stealing them in the West Bank. They aren’t even trying to hide their true intentions anymore.
Ben Gvir said they would allow just a little bit of food to enter the Gaza Strip because those financially backing their genocide are uncomfortable about images of children starving to death being shared all over social media. Gvir admitted they’re only letting a little aid in to make those people feel better so they continue sending money so they can “finish” the war.”
They also admitted their plan to force all surviving Palestinians into a tiny area at the very Southern end of the Strip to make it easier to “push them out” when the time comes. Sure sounds like a genocide, doesn’t it?
More on Greta and friends from reporting by BBC:
The aid on board the Madleen includes rice and baby formula, organisers the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said.
Citizens of Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Turkey are onboard the vessel – among them Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament, and Omar Faiad, a French journalist with Al Jazeera.
Earlier on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a swift return of six French activists on board the vessel and called on Israel to ensure the “protection” of the activists.
Sweden’s foreign ministry said it was in contact with Israeli authorities in a statement shared with the Reuters news agency, while Turkey condemned the interception as a “heinous attack” in international waters.
FFC said it had not been allowed contact with any of the 12 passengers since the vessel was intercepted by Israel in the early hours of Monday.
The boat set sail from Italy on 1 June to raise awareness of starvation conditions in Gaza.
Israel says its blockade on Gaza is necessary to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas fighters there.
Video shared by the FFC showed the activists sitting down in life jackets with their hands raised as Israeli forces boarded the boat. Those on board could be seen throwing mobile phones overboard.
In custody, they were forced to watch footage of October 7, because, according to Israeli officials, they support Hamas. Some of them refused to watch in order to refute the claim that they support what happened that day.
This is the same propaganda BS people use against college campus protesters. They want you to believe that you can’t protest the slaughter of innocent civilians AND denounce Hamas for what happened on October 7. In reality, people who attacked Hamas for the citizens killed in Israel also attack the Israeli government for the citizens killed in Gaza.
They want this issue to be black and white, when, in reality it is extremely nuanced.
Greta and friends were deported from Israel and flown back to their respective countries.
Greta Thunberg and friends are brave for doing what they did. If anything, they’ve shown the world how far Israel will go to prevent even the smallest amount of aid from reaching Gaza.
