Four of the 12 crew members of the Madleen, including prominent activist Greta Thunberg, were deported from Israel on Tuesday, with the remaining eight crew members, including French Member of European Parliament Rima Hassan, still in custody in Israel. The crew members were detained in international waters aboard a ship that intended to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, and they were transported to Israel by its military.
The Madleen was seized by Israel’s military early Monday morning, approximately 200 kilometres from the Israeli coast. Crew members of the ship were detained, brought to Israel, and given the option of consenting to deportation or remaining in detention until appearance before a tribunal. The eight crew members who remain in detention appeared before the Israeli Detention Review Tribunal on Tuesday, where they were each issued 100-year entry bans from Israel for illegally entering the country.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which organized the voyage, claims that the detention was arbitrary and illegal since the ship was in international waters and the crew members were forcibly taken to Israel.
Israel claims that the crew members were legally detained for attempting to breach a naval blockade.
The San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea protects both persons and “vessels engaged in humanitarian missions” from capture during times of armed conflict. This rule is fully applicable to naval blockades, irrespective of the legality of a naval blockade itself. There is no legitimate justification for blocking humanitarian access to civilians in need in international humanitarian law, as long as humanitarian vessels maintain neutrality and do not participate in a conflict. There is no evidence or claim that the Madleen or its crew breached either of these principles, which would maintain the Madleen and its crew’s status as protected humanitarian actors under international law and impose an obligation on Israel to allow its transit through the blockade.
Although Israel issued entry bans to crew members for “illegally entering” Israel, they did not enter Israel voluntarily, as the crew was detained in international waters and taken to Israel by force. While Gaza is under the control of Israel, Gaza is not considered part of Israel’s territory under international law. This means that the crew had no intent to enter the internationally recognized territory of Israel and were not present in Israel’s territory when detained.
Turkiye, Iran, and several international humanitarian organizations have condemned the act as a violation of international law. France, the UK, and Brazil issued statements demanding the release of their nationals from detention.
Crew member Omar Faiad of Al Jazeera reported that the crew was denied contact with legal representation or consular assistance for three days and pressured into signing documents. According to France24, French MEP Rima Hassan and Brazilian volunteer Thiago Avila are being held in solitary confinement.
The remaining French detainees are expected to be deported by the end of the week.
The deported detainees include Baptiste Andre of France, Greta Thunberg of Sweden, Sergio Toribio of Spain, and Omar Faiad of France. Suayb Ordu of Turkiye, Mark van Rennes of the Netherlands, Pascal Maurieras of France, Reva Viard of France, Rima Hassan of France, Thiago Avila of Brazil, Yanis Mhamdi of France, and Yasemin Acar of Germany remain imprisoned in Israel.
