Greta Thunberg and other activists on Gaza aid boat will be deported, Israel says – live updates

Bright lights and screeching noises as the Madleen is interceptedpublished at 11:44 British Summer Time

11:44 BST

Joe Inwood
World news correspondent

Image source, Freedom Flotilla Coalition

Bright lights were flashing and screeching noises caused some to cover their ears the moment the Madleen was boarded, according to footage captured by an onboard security camera.

A voice, which appears to belong to Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, can be heard repeatedly telling the crew to “ditch your phones… phones in the water”. Shortly after, someone can be seen hurling a device off the side of the boat. A laptop is also thrown overboard.

He tells everyone to “assume positions”, before giving a thumbs up to someone outside the boat. It is not clear who he is signalling to, although it would appear to be someone on another vessel.

He can then be seen saying into a phone: “We are being boarded now… it’s very important you know, no one is wounded now. No one was wounded when they boarded our boat.”

A woman’s voice says: “If anything happens to us, this is a war crime.”

The mood onboard appears calm, with the crew’s hands in the air.

Three and a half minutes after the start of the released recording, another boat appears in the back of the shot. Another voice can be heard saying “calm down… calm down everyone”. It is not clear who is speaking.

Ten seconds later, Israeli military personnel can be seen walking onto the boat, crouching down and talking to one of the crew. Shortly after, the footage ends.

This almost four minutes of footage was put online by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. It is not clear if the transmission stopped at this point or if only a section was released.

What is clear is that the crew of the boat were keen to make it clear they did not want to risk physical confrontation with the special forces who were boarding them.