Greta Thunberg Gaza flotilla newest: Climate campaigner breaks silence after touchdown in Paris following deportation by Israel

Climate campaigner Scarlett Westbrook has written a piece for The Independent about her first experience of meeting Greta Thunberg when she was a teenager.

“Rather than being a “selfie boat”, it is truly “selfless”, as the crew have put their lives on the line in an effort to bring aid to the most vulnerable people on the planet,” she writes of the Madleen.

You can read her full piece below.

Meanwhile in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there had been “significant progress” in efforts to secure the remaining hostages in Gaza.

But he said in a video statement that it was “too soon” to hope that a deal could be struck to ensure their safe return to Israel.

Israel’s leadership has said that it would wage war until the remaining 55 hostages held in Gaza are freed and when Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war, has been dismantled.

Donald Trump’s claim that Greta Thunberg is an “angry” person is not the first time that the pair have clashed publicly.

During a conference in 2019, the US President sarcastically described the then 16-year-old as a “very happy young girl” after she delivered a speech on climate change at the United Nations.

Mr Trump also took aim at her later that year after she was named Time magazine’s person of the year, claiming she should “work on her anger management problem”.

Greta Thunberg has laughed off criticism from Donald Trump, who had described her as an angry person.

She told reporters after arriving in Paris: “I think the world needs a lot more young angry women to be honest, especially with everything going on right now.”

It came after Mr Trump described her as a “strange” and “angry” person when asked about her mission to deliver aid to Gaza on the Madleen ship.

We have some more comments from Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on the Israeli capture of her Gaza-bound vessel Madleen.

Ms Thunberg arrived in Paris today after being deported by Israel this morning. She is expected to travel to Sweden later.

Speaking upon arrival at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, Ms Thunberg called for the release of the other activists who were detained aboard the Freedom Flotilla.

She described a “quite chaotic and uncertain” situation during the detention.

The activist added that the conditions they faced “are absolutely nothing compared to what people are going through in Palestine and especially Gaza right now”.

“We were well aware of the risks of this mission,” Ms Thunberg added. “The aim was to get to Gaza and to be able to distribute the aid.”

Britain confirmed on Tuesday that it had sanctioned two far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, in response to what it called their incitement of violence against Palestinian communities.

“Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now to hold those responsible to account,” British foreign minister David Lammy said in a statement.

As promised, we have some quotes from Spanish activist Sergio Toribio, who arrived in Barcelona this morning after being deported by Israel.

Toribio was one of 12 activists aboard the Madleen who were picked up by Israel off the coast of Egypt while attempting to break the naval blockade on Gaza.

“If we were in international waters, we couldn’t be in any military zone. When they attacked us, before they arrived, when we could already see they wanted to board, the marine emergency services were alerted. These are international waters. There is no military base, nor a military zone,” said Mr Toribio.

“They held us on the boat, they monitored us quite well, you have to bear in mind. A unit of 12 people, they are professionals.

“The doctor came, they checked all of us, and they gave us water, food. They put all of us on deck to keep an eye on us, and they kept us there for nearly half a day until the sun started to rise.”

Israeli far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir have responded to a report that the UK is about to sanction them.

The foreign ministry has not elaborated on why the pair are being sanctioned, but both ministers have talked about cleansing Gaza of Palestinians and supporting illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Security minister Ben-Gvir said he had “contempt” for the sanctions package and compared it to the 1939 UK policy paper limiting Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine.

“We survived Pharaoh, we will also survive Keir Starmer,” he said in a statement. “I will continue to work for Israel and the people of Israel without fear or intimidation!”

At a dedication ceremony for a new settlement near Hebron, finance minister Smotrich also called the decision “a White Paper.”

“Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland and we will not allow it to do so again,” he said. “We are determined to continue building.”