Activists from Global Sumud flotilla including Greta Thunberg arrested as final boat is presumed intercepted in Palestinian waters
Israel says it has stopped a pro-Palestinian flotilla carrying aid from reaching Gaza, with its navy intercepting all but one of the vessels trying to breach the blockade.
Of the 42 vessels being tracked online by the Global Sumud flotilla (GSF), 41 were listed as having been confirmed or assumed to have been stopped by Israeli forces.
Continue reading...Greta Thunberg arrested and taken into custody after six of the flotilla’s boats were boarded
A number of boats from a pro-Palestinian flotilla have been boarded by Israeli forces roughly 75 miles off the coast of Gaza, as the vessels attempted to breach the maritime blockade of the war-torn territory and bring aid.
The raid began with the flotilla’s leading vessel, Alma, whose crew were detained by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday. A video from the Israeli foreign ministry showed the most prominent of the flotilla’s passengers, Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers.
Continue reading...The Global Sumud Flotilla, with over 500 people including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, aims to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza
Italy has said it will stop tracking an international flotilla attempting to deliver aid to Gaza with a military vessel, as activists on board announced they were on “high alert” as they moved closed to their destination.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, consisting of more than 40 civilian boats with over 500 people including parliamentarians, lawyers and Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, aims to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
Continue reading...The Global Sumud Flotilla said they would ‘not be intimidated’, after third report of drone attacks this month
Organisers of a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists have reported explosions and multiple drones that targeted some of their boats, currently situated near Greece.
“Multiple drones, unidentified objects dropped, communications jammed and explosions heard from a number of boats,” the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) said in a statement. “We are witnessing these psychological operations first-hand, right now, but we will not be intimidated.”
Continue reading...Global Sumud Flotilla says one of its vessels was hit by drone at Sidi Bou Said port in Tunisia, sustaining fire damage
A flotilla carrying aid for Gaza and pro-Palestinian activists has published a video showing one of its boats being struck by a flaming object at Sidi Bou Said port in Tunisia.
The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) said the boat had been hit by a drone and that it sustained fire damage to its main deck and below-deck storage, though all six passengers and crew were safe.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Activist spoke while onboard aid flotilla aiming to deliver food, baby formula and medical supplies to territory
Keir Starmer must obey his “legal duty to act to prevent a genocide”, Greta Thunberg has told the Guardian while travelling onboard an aid flotilla heading for Gaza.
The Swedish activist said there was a “huge absence of those whose legal responsibility it is to step up” under international law, and called out the UK prime minister before a potential meeting this week with Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog.
Continue reading...The Swede has has not necessarily become a fan of Irish football, as she sports a club jersey made with help from Fontaines DC
The humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza is a serious mission with an incongruous detail: Greta Thunberg sporting a jersey of the Dublin football club Bohemians.
The Swedish activist wore the pale blue shirt during an earlier flotilla in June and again this week as vessels prepared to leave Barcelona.
Continue reading...Hundred Year Hunger – which has a chorus in Arabic – has been released by the British protest singer to coincide with a humanitarian aid flotilla heading for Gaza
Billy Bragg has released a new original song to show his support for the people of Palestine. The title of Hundred Year Hunger was inspired by a new book of the same name by E Mark Windle about the history of chronic malnutrition and deprivation in Gaza and will raise money for the Amos Trust’s Gaza Appeal.
Writing on Instagram, the British protest singer said that the song “looks at the current famine that Israel has created in Gaza through the lens of a century of enforced food insecurity and malnutrition imposed on the Palestinian people, firstly by British imperialism, then as a weapon of mass displacement by the state of Israel”.
Continue reading...Swedish activist says ‘12 peaceful volunteers’ did not break laws during attempt to bring symbolic aid shipment to Gaza
Hours after being deported from Israel, Greta Thunberg accused the country of kidnapping her and her fellow activists in international waters, adding that she had refused to sign a document stating that she had entered Israel illegally.
Speaking to reporters at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, the Swedish campaigner stressed that she and others on a Gaza-bound ship intercepted by Israel on Monday had simply been attempting to bring much-needed aid to the war-torn territory.
Continue reading...Palestinians reportedly killed while trying to reach food sites, while Israel accused of war crime in targeting schools
Israeli troops killed at least 17 Palestinians trying to reach food distribution sites on Tuesday, health authorities in Gaza said, as UN experts accused Israel’s military of committing war crimes including the “obliteration” of Gaza’s education system.
More than 130 people have been shot dead over the past two weeks in a series of brutally repetitive attacks on desperate crowds trying to access food handouts. Hundreds of others have been injured.
Continue reading...Crew of activists making symbolic attempt to deliver aid expected to be held in port until deportation hearings
A boat seized by Israel’s military as it tried to break the blockade on Gaza was towed into an Israeli port after sunset on Monday, with the crew of activists including Greta Thunberg expected to be held there in advance of deportation hearings.
The Madleen was attempting to bring a symbolic shipment of aid to Gaza, which faces a looming famine after more than 11 weeks of total siege and ongoing severe restrictions on food entering the territory.
Continue reading...Alarm briefly sounds on vessel Madleen amid interception fears after Israeli defence minister tells military to ‘take all necessary measures’ to block humanitarian ship
The Israeli defence minister has threatened to “take all necessary measures” to prevent a humanitarian ship carrying climate campaigner Greta Thunberg from reaching Gaza.
The Madleen says it is attempting to reach the shores of the territory to bring in a symbolic amount of aid and raise international awareness of the continuing humanitarian crisis.
Continue reading...Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham also on Freedom Flotilla voyage to deliver aid to devastated territory
The climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists have set sail for Gaza on a ship aimed at “breaking Israel’s siege” of the devastated territory, organisers have said.
The sailing boat Madleen – operated by the activist group Freedom Flotilla Coalition – departed from the port of Catania in Sicily, southern Italy, on Sunday.
Continue reading...Among sweeping rightwing electoral victories across the globe, the ‘big loser of the elections has been climate’
An unprecedented year of elections around the world has underscored a sobering trend – in many countries the commitment to act on the climate crisis has either stalled or is eroding, even as disasters and record temperatures continue to mount.
So far 2024, called the “biggest election year in human history” by the United Nations with around half the world’s population heading to the polls, there have been major wins for Donald Trump, the US president-elect who calls the climate crisis “a big hoax”; the climate-skeptic right in European Union elections; and Vladimir Putin, who won another term and has endured sanctions to maintain Russia’s robust oil and gas exports.
Continue reading...Thunberg and other activists dragged away from doorway they were obstructing in climate protest
Swedish police have forcibly removed Greta Thunberg and other climate activists after they blocked the entrance to the Swedish parliament for a second day.
Two officers lifted Thunberg and dragged her away before putting her down on the ground about 20 metres away from the door she had been obstructing.
Continue reading...Court rules not enough evidence provided to prove defendants failed to comply with section 14 order at anti-fossil fuel rally
Greta Thunberg and four others charged with public order offences over a protest in London have been cleared after a judge ruled that they had no case to answer.
Thunberg was charged alongside Christofer Kebbon, Joshua James Unwin, Jeff Rice and Peter Barker with “failing to comply with a condition imposed under section 14 of the Public Order Act”.
Continue reading...March on Sunday will cap a week of more than 650 global actions and is expected to be the largest US climate march in five years
A climate protest and rally headlined by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday are expected to bring thousands of activists to the streets of New York.
Under the banner March to End Fossil Fuels, protesters will push the Biden administration to take bold steps to phase out fossil fuels. The demonstration will fall days before the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit, which the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has described as a “no nonsense” conference meant to highlight new climate commitments.
Continue reading...MEPs back law to place recovery measures on 20% of EU’s land and sea by 2030 by dozen votes
The EU has narrowly passed a key law to protect nature – a core pillar of the Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s European Green Deal – after months of fiery debate and an opposition campaign scientists criticised as misleading.
The nature restoration law will place recovery measures on 20% of the EU’s land and sea by 2030, rising to cover all degraded ecosystems by 2050.
Continue reading...Fallout from Covid crisis has left event struggling financially after last year’s ‘traumatic’ fall in sales
The Edinburgh International book festival hopes a swathe of Booker prize winners, political leaders and a guest appearance by Greta Thunberg will help restore its finances after a “traumatic” fall in sales last year.
The world’s largest book festival celebrates its 40th anniversary in August with events featuring Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the Icelandic prime minister, the former Booker winners Ben Okri and Anne Enright, and the International Booker winners Georgi Gospodinov and David Diop.
Continue reading...As activist graduates from school, she says she will still protest on Fridays as ‘fight has only just begun’
After what began as a solo protest in Sweden five years ago and grew into a movement with millions of children across the world participating, Greta Thunberg has taken part in her last “school strike” protest as she graduates from school.
The protests, which led to many climate activist movements across Europe, the US and Australia, are known as Fridays for Future or School Strike for Climate.
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