carrying

A C-32A carrying War Secretary Pete Hegseth was forced to make a rapid descent over the Atlantic and an “unplanned landing” on Wednesday.

“On the way back to the United States from NATO’s Defense Ministers meeting, Secretary of War Hegseth’s plane made an unscheduled landing in the United Kingdom due to a crack in the aircraft windshield,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell explained on X. “The plane landed based on standard procedures and everyone onboard, including Secretary Hegseth, is safe.”

Open source trackers state the C-32A was forced to descend to under 10,000 feet while flying off the coast of Ireland, over the Atlantic Ocean. After a steep emergency descent, which is standard procedure for a broken windscreen, the modified 757-200 ended up diverting to RAF Mildenhall in the U.K. We’ve reached out to the Pentagon for more details.

As we have reported in the past, the C-32A is the real workhorse of the executive airlift fleet. Known as “Air Force 2” when it carries the vice president, these aircraft also transport other senior U.S. officials, such as Hegseth or the Secretary of State, along with Congressional delegations and the President’s spouse – and often the President themselves.

It should be noted that these jets have been flying for many years and are deeply into the back-half of their service lives. They continue to receive upgrades as a replacement program is now in the initial launch phases.

Hegseth was in Brussels meeting with NATO allies for the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting. It is unclear when Hegseth will resume his trip.

Contact the author: [email protected]

WASHINGTON — The United States struck another small boat accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela, killing six people, President Trump said on Tuesday.

Those who died in the strike were aboard the vessel, and no U.S. forces were harmed, Trump said in a social media post. It’s the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean as Trump’s administration has asserted it’s treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the strike Tuesday morning, said Trump, who released a video of it, as he had in the past. Hegseth later shared the video in a post on X.

Trump said the strike was conducted in international waters and “Intelligence” confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with “narcoterrorist networks” and was on a known drug trafficking route.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to an email from the Associated Press seeking more information on the latest boat strike.

Frustration with the Trump administration has been growing on Capitol Hill among members of both major political parties. Some Republicans are seeking more information from the White House on the legal justification and details of the strikes. Democrats contend the strikes violate U.S. and international law.

The Senate last week voted on a war powers resolution that would have barred the Trump administration from conducting the strikes unless Congress specifically authorized them, but it failed to pass.

In a memo to Congress that was obtained by The Associated Press, the Trump administration said it had “determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations” and that Trump directed the Pentagon to “conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict.”

The Trump administration has yet to provide underlying evidence to lawmakers proving that the boats targeted by the U.S. military in a series of fatal strikes were in fact carrying narcotics, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The strikes followed a buildup of U.S. maritime forces in the Caribbean unlike any seen in recent times.

Last week, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino told military leaders that the U.S. government knows the drug-trafficking accusations used to support the recent actions in the Caribbean are false, with its true intent being to “force a regime change” in the South American country.

He added that the Venezuelan government does not see the deployment of the U.S. warships as a mere “propaganda-like action” and warned of a possible escalation.

“I want to warn the population: We have to prepare ourselves because the irrationality with which the U.S. empire operates is not normal,” Padrino said during the televised gathering. “It’s anti-political, anti-human, warmongering, rude, and vulgar.”

Price and Toropin write for the Associated Press. AP writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

An Israeli strike targeted a vehicle carrying displaced Palestinians who were evacuating Gaza City to the south under Israeli forced displacement orders on Tuesday. Injured women and children were filmed being carried away from the burning car, while authorities said multiple people were killed.

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Monday that the U.S. military again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel.

“The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the U.S.,” Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the strike. “These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to U.S. National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests.”

The strike that Trump says was carried out Monday came two weeks after another military strike on what the Trump administration says was a drug-carrying speedboat from Venezuela that killed 11.

The Trump administration justified the earlier strike as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

But several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, have indicated dissatisfaction with the administration’s rationale and questioned the legality of the action. They view it as a potential overreach of executive authority in part by using the military for law enforcement purposes.

The Trump administration has claimed self-defense as a legal justification for the first strike, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing the drug cartels “pose an immediate threat” to the nation.

U.S. officials said the strike early this month targeted Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. And they indicated more military strikes on drug targets would be coming as the U.S. looks to “wage war” on cartels.

Trump did not specify whether Tren de Aragua was also the target of Monday’s strike.

The Venezuelan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported strike.

The Trump administration has railed specifically against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for the scourge of illegal drugs in U.S. communities.

Maduro during a press conference earlier on Monday lashed out at the U.S. government, accusing the Trump administration of using drug trafficking accusations as an excuse for a military operation whose intentions are “to intimidate and seek regime change” in the South American country.

Maduro also repudiated what he described as a weekend operation in which 18 Marines raided a Venezuelan fishing boat in the Caribbean.

“What were they looking for? Tuna? What were they looking for? A kilo of snapper? Who gave the order in Washington for a missile destroyer to send 18 armed Marines to raid a tuna fishing vessel?” he said. “They were looking for a military incident. If the tuna fishing boys had any kind of weapons and used weapons while in Venezuelan jurisdiction, it would have been the military incident that the warmongers, extremists who want a war in the Caribbean, are seeking.”

Speaking to Fox News earlier Monday, Rubio reiterated that the U.S. doesn’t see Maduro as the rightful leader of Venezuela but as head of a drug cartel.

“We’re not going to have a cartel, operating or masquerading as a government, operating in our own hemisphere,” Rubio said.

Following the first military strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, America’s chief diplomat said Trump was “going to use the U.S. military and all the elements of American power to target cartels who are targeting America.”

AP and others have reported that the boat had turned around and was heading back to shore when it was struck. But Rubio on Monday said he didn’t know if that’s accurate.

“What needs to start happening is some of these boats need to get blown up,” Rubio said. “We can’t live in a world where all of a sudden they do a U-turn and so we can’t touch them anymore.”

Madhani and Garcia Cano write for the Associated Press. AP writer Matthew Lee in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Reporting from Washington — It was an October afternoon when 13-year-old Andy Lopez, wearing shorts and a blue sweatshirt, walked down a sidewalk in Santa Rosa, Calif., loosely carrying at his side a plastic pellet gun that resembled an assault rifle.

Two Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies were driving in the neighborhood on a routine patrol. When Officer Erick Gelhaus, an Iraq war veteran, spotted the 5-foot-3 teenager, he thought the boy might be carrying an AK-47.

Their patrol car swung behind Andy. From 60 feet away, Gelhaus jumped out, crouched behind the door and shouted “Drop the gun!”

As Andy began to turn toward him, Gelhaus fired eight shots, killing the boy.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to shield the deputy from being sued by the parents of the boy on the grounds that no law “squarely governs” this situation and would have alerted the officer that shooting the teenager on the sidewalk amounted to the use of “excessive force.”

Decision time: Supreme Court tackles cases on gay rights, gerrymandering, unions »

Joined by several California law enforcement groups, Sonoma County’s lawyers are urging the justices to “support the common sense proposition that officers need not wait for a gun to actually be leveled or pointed at them before responding with deadly force to protect themselves and the public.”

They stand a good chance of prevailing, even though the high court grants only about 1% of appeal petitions.

In recent years, the justices have regularly intervened in police shooting cases to overturn rulings that cleared the way for a jury to decide whether an officer used excessive force.

In April, the high court, by a 7-2 vote, tossed out a lawsuit against a Tucson police officer who shot a woman four times as she stood in her front yard holding a large kitchen knife. The officer, one of three who came on the scene, decided she was threatening another woman who stood six feet away. The other woman later testified they were housemates, and she did not feel threatened.

The justices reversed the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which had allowed the woman’s suit to proceed. “Use of excessive force is an area of law in which the result depends very much on the facts of each case, and thus police officers are entitled to qualified immunity unless existing precedent squarely governs the specific facts at issue,” the court said in Kisela vs. Hughes.

In dissent, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the decision “sends an alarming signal to law enforcement officers … that they can shoot first and think later.”

The shooting of Andy Lopez in 2013 sparked protests in Santa Rosa and an FBI investigation. But no charges were brought against Gelhaus, and the officer returned to duty in two months.

Andy’s parents sued under the long-standing federal civil rights law that authorizes suits against officers who violate a person’s constitutional rights. In this instance, the suit alleged a violation of the 4th Amendment’s ban on “unreasonable searches and seizures.”

Chief District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland refused to grant immunity to the officer, and the 9th Circuit Court, by a 2-1 vote, affirmed her decision last year.

Judge Milan D. Smith, an appointee of President George W. Bush, said the officer did not appear to face an imminent threat.

“Andy was walking normally … in broad daylight in a residential neighborhood” and carrying a weapon that another driver in the area saw as being a toy gun, even though it did not have an orange plastic tip. “Gelhaus deployed deadly force while Andy was standing on the sidewalk holding a gun that was pointed down at the ground,” Smith wrote. And he “shot without having warned [him] that such force would be used, and without observing any aggressive behavior.”

In dissent, Judge Clifford Wallace, a Nixon appointee, called the case “tragic. A boy lost his life, needlessly, as it turns out.” But the suit should be dismissed nonetheless. “The majority greatly understates the potential danger Andy posed as perceived by Deputy Gelhaus. [He] reasonably believed that Andy was carrying an AK-47,” he wrote.

Sonoma County appealed to the Supreme Court in Gelhaus vs. Lopez and said the recent ruling in the Tucson case calls for throwing out the suit against the deputy.

“No existing precedent ‘squarely governs’ the ‘specific facts’ at issue here,” the county said. Its petition described “the specific situation” as “an individual apparently armed with an assault rifle refusing to drop a weapon. … An officer need not wait to be put in harm’s way before responding in defense of himself and the surrounding community … when confronting an assault weapon capable of spraying 30 bullets in seconds.”

The justices considered the appeal in their private conference on May 31 and relisted it for further consideration this past week. They could act on the case as soon as Monday.

If they deny the appeal, the parents’ suit would go to trial in Oakland. The court could agree to hear the case in the fall. Or the justices may reverse the 9th Circuit’s decision to allow the suit by citing their recent ruling in the Tucson case.

The latest from Washington »

More stories from David G. Savage »

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Footage has emerged taken from the cockpit of a Russian fighter jet, showing a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol plane fitted with a secretive radar pod during a mission over the Black Sea. The video underscores the growing importance of the P-8 for intelligence gathering in critical theaters such as the Black Sea, an active war zone, where a tense standoff continues between NATO and Russian assets, on the margins of the conflict in Ukraine.

The video in question was published on the Russian aviation-connected Fighterbomber channel on Telegram and shows a mission that reportedly took place today, August 27. Publicly available flight tracking data does show a Navy P-8 mission over the Black Sea today, although we can’t be sure it was the same aircraft involved.

A tweet with embedded flight tracking data shows a P-8 flight from today, out of Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, and flying for four hours over the Black Sea, including at a distance of around 50 nautical miles from Russian airspace, off the Black Sea city of Sochi:

It’s also unclear what Russian aircraft was involved, although it is certainly a fighter from the Flanker series, perhaps a Su-35S, a type that has been noted flying such interception missions in the past.

What’s most notable about the video, however, is the extended antenna for the AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor, or AAS, the elongated pod that is sometimes seen fitted under the P-8’s fuselage. As we have discussed in depth in the past, this is a powerful radar system that entered development in 2009 and began testing in 2014. This may even be the first time that the pod has been observed in the Black Sea. It’s also very rare to see the antenna extended, usually it is tucked tightly below the aircraft’s fuselage in its stowed position.

P-8A 169336 returns from a short flight, showing off a new kit.

It Is now equipped with the AN/APS-154 AAS, and the Lockheed Multi User Objective System. This is now the second P-8 in the Navy fleet with this setup. pic.twitter.com/0qxklubbvw

— 𝗦𝗥_𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 (@SR_Planespotter) April 28, 2025

The footage provides an especially good and very rare view of how the pod is deployed in flight, using the Special Mission Pod Deployment Mechanism (SMPDM). By extending the pod well below the fuselage while in flight, the radar’s fields of view are no longer obstructed by the P-8’s two engines.

Details about the AAS pod and its capabilities remain strictly limited. We know that it was developed by Raytheon and that it is based around an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. This has a moving target indicator (MTI) and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) functionality, making it suitable for tracking moving targets below at sea and on land. It is able to detect and make SAR imagery of ships at considerable distances and can also collect very high-quality radar imagery of objects of interest for further analysis, even at night and in poor weather.

In addition, the pod may well have secondary electronic warfare capabilities. You can read much more about this sensor and what it offers to the Navy’s Poseidon fleet here.

The Black Sea, with its combination of maritime activity and proximity to an intense ground war in Ukraine, is an ideal theater of operations for the AAS-equipped P-8.

As TWZ has observed in the past:

“The AAS is also specifically designed to work in littoral regions where it might have to scan both water and land areas simultaneously. Traditional surface search radars are typically optimized for one environment or the other, or have dedicated modes for each, and generally have difficulty covering both at the same time.”

Since before the full-scale Russian invasion, an armada of NATO intelligence-gathering aircraft has been patrolling over the Black Sea, as well as elsewhere in proximity to Russian and Ukrainian borders. RC-135 Rivet Joints and RQ-4 drones, to name just two, have long been staples in the airspace over the Black Sea.

As for the P-8, its value in the region, especially when equipped with the AAS pod, is obvious, providing the ability to monitor, with great acuity, various objects of interest, including moving ones, both in the water and on land.

Having the AAS-equipped P-8 in this area, combined with the aircraft’s existing electronic intelligence, networking and data-sharing capabilities, makes for a very powerful standoff targeting platform. Data can be fed to other assets in the air, at sea, or on land. It can detect ships moving from great distances, even small ones, and than ‘image’ them using its powerful radar. Detecting and cataloging enemy air defense emissions and radar mapping shore and inland targets is all in a day’s work for this highly unique aircraft.

The aircraft, outfitted in this way, also provides a partial replacement for the EP-3E Aeries II, which has now departed U.S. Navy service. The AN/APS-154 is also a direct successor to the equally secretive AN/APS-149 Littoral Surveillance Radar System, another podded Raytheon AESA radar that was carried by some P-3C Orions.

The latest encounter between a P-8 and a Russian Flanker seems to have passed without incident, although there is certainly a precedent for some more tense intercepts over the same waters.

In September 2022, a Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter fired an air-to-air missile toward a U.K. Royal Air Force RC-135W Rivet Joint over the Black Sea, although the details of exactly why that happened remain somewhat unclear.

According to one account, a Su-27 pilot misinterpreted an instruction from a radar operator on the ground and thought he had permission to fire on the RC-135. The Russian pilot achieved a missile lock on the British aircraft, then fired a missile that “did not launch properly.”

In March 2023, an encounter between a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drone and two Russian Su-27 fighters over the Black Sea resulted in the drone being lost. A video released by the Pentagon soon after seems to confirm that one of the Su-27s struck the drone’s propeller, although it remains unclear to what degree that action was deliberate or a misjudgment.

U.S. Department of Defense video showing part of the encounter between a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 and two Russian Su-27 fighter jets over the Black Sea on March 14, 2023, that resulted in the drone being lost:

The video of the P-8 being intercepted by a Russian fighter once again highlights the relatively intense activity by surveillance aircraft and the fighters that monitor them in some of the tensest skies in Europe.

Contact the author: [email protected]

A WOMAN has revealed that she instantly fell in love with her step-brother after he moved in to the family home, and ended up pregnant with his baby.

Tookie and Krys first met as teenagers, when Krys moved back in with his mother, after years of separation.

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Tookie was already living with Krys’ mum, and was being raised as her step-daughter.

“When I first saw her I thought she was too good for me”, Krys told Love Don’t Judge.

“I didn’t talk to her because I was too nervous”.

However, Tookie was instantly attracted to Krys, describing his “nerdy” look as “sexy”.

The duo, who were 15 and 17 at the time soon grew close, and after Tookie initiated things, they began sleeping together.

“One thing led to another, and we made a baby”, Krys said.

The couple were able to keep their relationship under wraps until Tookie became pregnant.

Jamie, Krys’ mum, found out about the pregnancy after receiving a phone call from Tookie’s mum.

“I expected Tookie and Krys to behave to eachother like brother and sister”, Jamie said.

Krys had only just got back in contact with his mother when he got Tookie pregnant, and was worried their bond would become fractured again.

Jamie said she was hurt and disappointed by the actions of the pair, but still loves Tookie as a daughter.

The couple now share a daughter named Blu, who is 20 months old.

Despite his young age, Tookie said that Krys was a great help following her birth, and she didn’t have to lift a finger.

“I love the way he is, you’re a good father”, Tookie said to Krys.

Here’s why I love being a young mum

Tracy Kiss, who fell pregnant at 19, has revealed what she believes are the pros of being a young mother.

The personal trainer and blogger, from Buckinghamshire, believes women who give birth in their teens make BETTER mothers than those in their 30s.

She claims young mums snap back into shape quicker, have more energy and relate more easily to their children, meaning they’re better behaved and happier.

Tracy told Fabulous: “Women who become first-time mums in their teens make better parents than those in their 30s or 40s.

“I believe if I’d been 10 or so years older before becoming a mother then I wouldn’t have the relationship I have with my children now.

“For a start, being older I would have had less energy and therefore less patience.

“I wouldn’t be as enthusiastic to speak to people after months of sleepless nights as I was in my teens.

“My body snapped back to its pre-pregnancy size through fitness post-birth, which in turn gave me the confidence to date and find love again. I’ve never been happier than I am now at the age of 30 with two children.

“If I’d have been alone at 40 with a newborn baby I’d be more tired, less happy with my body, less energetic and far more stressed from the shock of living my life for myself instead of putting others first. Sometimes age and the innocence of ignorance is a good thing.

“As a teen mum I just got on with it, found my feet and became responsible and capable because at the time I didn’t know any different.”

The couple get lots of hate online for their unique relationship, but don’t let trolls get them down.

“If you’re still judging, then honestly, you’re miserable”, Krys said.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

National Search and Rescue Agency says rescuers searching for 43 people after vessel sank off resort island.

Rescuers are searching for 43 people missing in rough seas overnight after a ferry carrying 65 people sank near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali.

The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank almost half an hour after leaving East Java’s Ketapang port late Wednesday, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.

It was bound for Bali’s Gilimanuk port, a 50-kilometre (30-mile) trip.

The ferry carried 53 passengers, 12 crew members and 22 vehicles, including 14 trucks, it said.

Two bodies have been recovered and 20 were rescued, many of them unconscious after drifting in choppy waters for hours, said Banyuwangi police chief, Rama Samtama Putra.

Nine boats, including two tug boats and two inflatable boats, have been searching for the missing people since Wednesday night, battling waves up to two metres (6.5ft) high in the overnight darkness.

Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where ferries are often used as transport and safety regulations can lapse.

More to follow…

Video shows an Israeli drone killing a Palestinian carrying a sack of flour in Gaza City. Israel has killed around 600 people trying to get food from sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been condemned as “an abomination” and “a death trap” by the United Nations.

Downing Street says the purchase will be the ‘biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation’.

The United Kingdom plans to buy at least a dozen F-35A fighter jets capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons, in what will be the “biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation”, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office says.

Starmer will make an announcement about the purchase, which will allow the UK’s air force to carry nuclear weapons for the first time since the end of the Cold War, at the NATO summit in The Hague on Wednesday, where NATO leaders are expected to approve a major boost to their defence spending.

The UK’s nuclear deterrence capability is currently limited to submarine-launched missiles.

“In an era of radical uncertainty we can no longer take peace for granted, which is why my government is investing in our national security,” Starmer said in a statement.

“These F35 dual-capable aircraft will herald a new era for our world-leading Royal Air Force and deter hostile threats that threaten the UK and our Allies.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in the statement that he strongly welcomed the announcement, describing it as “yet another robust British contribution to NATO”.

‘Dual-capable’ fighter jets

The F-35A, produced by United States company Lockheed Martin, is similar to the F-35B currently used by the UK air force, but can carry nuclear bombs in addition to conventional weapons.

Seven NATO members, including the US, Germany and Italy, already have dual-capable planes on European territory capable of carrying the same US B61 nuclear warheads that the UK will likely carry, the AFP news agency reported.

The aircraft would be deployed as NATO’s nuclear dual-capable aircraft mission, strengthening the alliance’s nuclear deterrence posture, Downing Street said.

The new jets would be based at the Marham airbase, with the acquisition of the planes expected to support 20,000 jobs in the UK, the statement said, as 15 percent of the global supply chain for the jets is based in the country.

Europe re-arms

NATO’s 32 members are expected to approve a major hike in targets for the defence spending, from 2 percent to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), at the summit in The Hague.

The UK has already committed to meeting the spending target, and has announced major investments in building new attack submarines and munitions factories.

The boost in defence budgets follows criticism from the Trump administration, which says the US carries too much of the alliance’s financial burden. US President Donald Trump has questioned whether the alliance should defend countries that fail to meet the spending targets, and has even threatened to leave the bloc.

Other countries have also signalled they are making major investments in their militaries in response to the threat posed by Russia, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz saying Tuesday that Germany would increase spending to become “Europe’s strongest conventional army”.

Video shows Indian Coast Guard crews dropping dry chemical powder and taking other steps to try to douse a blaze that’s been burning for days on a cargo ship carrying hazardous materials. The ship was off the Kerala coast en route to Mumbai when explosions sparked the blaze. Four crew members are missing.

A Gaza-bound aid boat illegally seized in international waters by Israeli forces has been towed into Ashdod Port, with the dozen international activists who were on board now facing detention and deportation.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which launched the ship to draw international attention to the looming famine in besieged Gaza, said it was captured at about 4:02am (01:02 GMT) on Monday, about 200km (120 miles) from Gaza, arriving at Ashdod as night fell.

Earlier, the coalition released a video from the vessel, which left Sicily on June 1, showing the activists – among whom are climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and French member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan – with their hands up as Israeli forces boarded the vessel and “kidnapped” them.

Adalah, a Palestinian legal centre representing the activists, said they were expected to be held at a detention facility before being deported.

It said that Israel had “no legal authority” to take over the ship, which was in international waters, heading not to Israel but to the “territorial waters of the State of Palestine”.

The arrests of the 12 “unarmed activists” amounted to “a serious breach of international law”, it said in a statement.

Huwaida Arraf, an FFC organiser, told Al Jazeera there had been no contact with the activists since they had been detained in the early hours of Monday.

“We have lawyers on standby who are going to demand they have access to them tonight – as soon as possible,” she said.

The Madleen, she noted, was sailing under a United Kingdom flag when it was forcibly seized by Israeli commandos.

“So Israel went into international waters and attacked sovereign UK territory, which is blatantly unlawful. And we expect strong condemnation, which we have not yet heard from the United Kingdom,” she said.

The UK government urged Israel to handle its detention of the activists “safely with restraint, in line with international humanitarian law”.

“We have made clear our position in relation to the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The PM has called it appalling and intolerable,” said a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, said: “Israel has absolutely no authority to intercept and stop a boat like this, which carries humanitarian aid, and more than everything else, humanity, to the people of Gaza.”

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Jordan’s capital Amman, said the activists would be accused of entering Israel illegally.

“These activists had no intention to enter Israel. They wanted to reach the shores of Gaza, which are not part of Israel,” she said.

“But that is how they will be processed, and they will be deported because of that.”

‘A form of piracy’

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs portrayed the voyage as a public relations stunt, saying in a post on X that “the ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel”.

It said the passengers were “undergoing medical examinations to ensure they are in good health”, adding that all passengers were expected to return to their home countries.

Government spokesperson David Mencer reserved special scorn for 22-year-old Thunberg. “Greta was not bringing aid, she was bringing herself. And she’s not here for Gaza, let’s be blunt about it. She’s here for Greta,” he said.

In a prerecorded video message that was shared by the FFC, Thunberg said: “I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible.”

The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs said it was in contact with Israeli authorities.

“Should the need for consular support arise, the Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will assess how we can best help the Swedish citizen/Greta Thunberg resolve her situation,” said a spokesperson in a written statement to the Reuters news agency.

United States President Donald Trump, who targeted Thunberg in 2019, dismissed her statement. “I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said the president had asked Israeli authorities to release the six French nationals on board as soon as possible, calling the humanitarian blockade of Gaza “a scandal” and a “disgrace”.

Turkey condemned the interception as a “heinous attack”, while Iran denounced it as “a form of piracy” in international waters.

Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz said the activists would be shown videos of atrocities committed during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

Hamas condemned the seizure of the boat as “state terrorism” and said it saluted its activists.

More killings at aid distribution point

On the ground in Gaza, Israeli forces continued their onslaught, killing 60 Palestinians since dawn, according to medical sources who spoke to Al Jazeera.

Among them were three medics, killed in Gaza City, as well as 13 hungry aid seekers, killed near an Israeli- and US-backed aid distribution site in southern Gaza.

More than 130 people have been killed near distribution points run by the shadowy Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since late May.

Israel engaged the group to distribute aid amid its total blockade on all imports, including food, fuel and medicine, as Israel ramped up its offensive after breaking its ceasefire agreement with Hamas in March.

The United Nations and other aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, accusing it of lacking neutrality and suggesting the group has been formed to enable Israel to achieve its stated military objective of taking over all of Gaza.

“Israeli authorities have blocked the delivery of safe and dignified aid at scale to the people of Gaza for over three months now,” said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, on Monday.

“We are not asking for the impossible. Allow us to do our work: assist people in need and preserve their dignity,” it said.

On Monday, Israeli aircraft also bombed tents sheltering displaced families in al-Katiba square in Gaza City, causing additional deaths and injuries.

They also targeted the Shaarawi and Haddad buildings in the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, resulting in multiple casualties.

At least one person was killed and others injured in an artillery attack on Old Gaza Street in Jabalia, in the north.

Israel has killed at least 54,927 people in Gaza since the start of the war, a figure estimated to be far lower than the actual death toll.