Above photo: Courtesy of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/gazafreedomflotilla/
Adalah Demands Their Immediate Release.
Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel has sent an urgent legal letter to Israeli authorities demanding information on the whereabouts of the 12 activists forcibly detained after Israeli naval forces unlawfully seized the Madleen, a vessel sailing as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
Israeli forces intercepted the Madleen in international waters at around 3:00 a.m. Israel time on 9 June 2025, and contact with the activists was lost. This peaceful civilian mission sought to break Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza, enforced as part of a broader policy of engineered starvation and an ongoing 20-month-long genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The Madleen carried humanitarian supplies, including medical equipment, baby formula, and clean water systems.
The flotilla never entered Israeli territorial waters, nor was it intended to do so. The Madleen was sailing in international waters, where Israel has no legal jurisdiction or authority, and was headed toward the territorial waters of the State of Palestine, as recognized under international law. The ship was intercepted after footage showed drones dropping an unidentified white substance onto it and the activists.
Israel’s interception of the Madleen and the arrest of peaceful, unarmed activists delivering humanitarian aid violate international law. The siege of Gaza, an illegal blockade that deliberately starves a vulnerable population, constitutes prohibited collective punishment and flagrantly violates the ICJ’s provisional measures in the genocide case (South Africa v. Israel). Activists have a legitimate right to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza’s starving civilians, and preventing the ship from reaching Gaza while detaining its volunteers breaches Israel’s binding legal obligations.
A total of 12 people were on board the Madleen, including 11 activists and one journalist. Among them are Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, Yasemin Acar from Germany, Baptiste Andre, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi and Reva Viard from France, Thiago Avila from Brazil, Suayb Ordu from Turkey, Sergio Toribio from Spain, Marco van Rennes from the Netherlands and Omar Faiad, a journalist with Al Jazeera Mubasher, also from France.
For Greta Thunberg and the crew of the Madleen!
Stockholm with over 60,000 people attending from all over Sweden🇸🇪❤️🇵🇸🍉 pic.twitter.com/q0i506viD0
— 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐦 (@Malcolm_Pal9) June 10, 2025
Adalah demands the immediate disclosure of the activists’ location and legal status, and their access to legal counsel to enable legal representation before Israeli authorities and tribunals. Adalah will pursue legal actions to secure the activists’ safety and release.
Updates:
June 9, 6:30 pm – The Madleen freedom flotilla remains at sea, with all 12 volunteers still under tow by Israeli navy forces. Israeli authorities continue to justify the operation by invoking the ongoing enforcement of the naval blockade on Gaza. The vessel is expected to dock at the Port of Ashdod later today, where the passengers will be transferred to a detention facility ahead of deportation. Adalah lawyers are on site and prepared to conduct legal visits upon the volunteers’ arrival.
Following correspondence with Israeli authorities throughout the day, the Legal Advisor to the Israeli Navy responded to Adalah as follows:
“At the beginning of last week, the vessel Madleen departed from the coast of Sicily with 12 individuals on board, including crew members. The passengers publicly declared their intention to breach the naval blockade and stated that the vessel was carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid. […] Last night, after Israeli Navy forces hailed the vessel and warned that it was approaching the blockade area and must alter its course, the vessel failed to respond and continued its route. Consequently, Israeli Navy forces boarded the vessel to redirect its course.”
“According to information from operational authorities, the passengers received food and water and underwent initial medical examinations. To the best of our knowledge, none of them are injured or currently require medical treatment.”
“At the time of this response, Israeli Naval forces are towing the vessel and its passengers to the Port of Ashdod. Upon arrival, expected later this evening, the Israeli Police will assume custody of the passengers and transfer them to a detention facility operated by the Population and Immigration Authority. There, they will undergo a hearing prior to the issuance of deportation orders, pursuant to the Entry into Israel Law, 1952….”
Adalah’s response:
“Israeli authorities are using the continued enforcement of an illegal blockade on Gaza to justify the detention of international activists, including medical professionals, a journalist, and a parliamentarian, from multiple countries. These individuals undertook their mission in protest of Israel’s egregious, ongoing crimes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza. States and the international community must immediately demand both the release of the 12 detained activists and an immediate end to the crimes that compelled their action.”
June 10, 01:30 am: Nearly 24 hours after the detention of activists aboard the ship Madleen, which sought to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, the volunteers are currently being held in a detention facility at Ben Gurion International Airport, where they are expected to face hearings before their deportation to their home countries.
After multiple requests to meet with the volunteers, Adalah’s legal team has arrived at the airport and is expected to meet with them shortly. Diplomatic representatives are also scheduled to meet with them.
June 10, 10:30 am: Yesterday, Adalah lawyers met with 11 of the 12 detained volunteers who were on board the Madleen. Israeli authorities allowed those who consented to deportation to fly out of Tel Aviv.
Four of the volunteers have left or are on their way to their home countries. The remaining eight are still detained and will contest their deportation before an Israeli tribunal.
These volunteers are expected to be brought before the Immigration Detention Review Tribunal this morning. Adalah lawyers are currently en route to Givon Prison in Ramleh, where the volunteers are being held, to represent them at hearings.
Freedom Flotilla Coalition update:
The FFC confirms that 4 of the 12 abducted from international waters have been deported, while 8 remain unjustly detained. Israel is handling the custody of all 12 as though they had entered illegally – even though they were forcibly abducted from international waters and brought into Israel against their will.
Those who did not consent to leave remain in detention and will appear before a tribunal. But we know Israel’s so-called “justice system” exists to uphold apartheid, occupation and colonization – not deliver justice, and that they will ultimately order a forced expulsion.
While the world stands by ‘Madleen’, we must also stand by and fight for Palestinians unlawfully imprisoned. According to Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, as of June 4, 2025, there are over 10,400 Palestinians held captive in Israeli dungeons. Of those, more than 400 are children and more than 3,500 are held without trial, charge or minimal due process.
The world is watching.
Adalah update, June 10, 9 pm: Today, June 10 2025, eight of the twelve international volunteers who were aboard the Madleen freedom flotilla were brought before an Israeli Detention Review Tribunal in the Ramleh detention facility, after the other four volunteers had already been deported. The tribunal reviewed custody orders issued against them by the Ministry of Interior, pending their deportation. Israel is treating all 12 individuals as if they “illegally entered” the country – despite forcibly detaining them in international waters and transferring them into Israeli territory against their will. Separately, yesterday, all twelve were also informed that Israel had imposed a 100-year entry ban on each of them. The hearings were held over five hours today.
Adalah’s legal team, attorneys Hadeel Abu Salih and LubnaTuma, and volunteer attorneyAfnanKhalifa, argued that Israel’s interception of the Madleen and arrest of peaceful, unarmed volunteers attempting to break the blockade on Gaza violated international law. They stressed that the ongoing siege on Gaza – an illegal blockade designed to starve a vulnerable population – amounts to collective punishment and directly breaches the provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice in the genocide case of South Africa v. Israel. The lawyers thus argued that the activists acted within their legitimate rights by attempting to break the siege and allow delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza’s starving civilians. Preventing the Madleen from reaching its destination and detaining its volunteers violates Israel’s binding international legal obligations, and is an extension of its illegal blockade, they contended.
Moreover, the legal team emphasized that even under Israeli law, the authorities lack legal jurisdiction. Because Israeli forces seized the vessel in international waters and forcibly transferred the volunteers into Israeli territory, the state has no lawful authority to detain or deport them. The activists must be released immediately, allowed to reboard their ship, deliver aid to Gaza, and return to their countries of origin.
In their statements to the tribunal, the activists declared that they had been kidnapped and forcibly brought into Israel against their will. They stressed that their sole mission was to break the siege on Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid. When the court asked whether they were aware of the naval blockade, they firmly responded that the blockade is illegal under international law and cannot justify Israel’s actions. One of the activists, Thiago Avila, announced that he has been on hunger and water strike since 4 am yesterday. Several activsits also reported unsanitary conditions in IPS custody, including bed bug infestations and access to undrinkable tap water.
The state asked the tribunal to keep the activists in custody until their deportation. Under the Entry into Israel Law, individuals who have been issued deportation orders will be held in detention for 72 hours before being forcibly removed, unless they agree to leave earlier. Adalah demands their immediate, unconditional release so they can return to their countries of origin.
The tribunal’s decision is expected later today.
