Bjork has called for the ‘safe return’ of childhood friend Magga Stina, who she claims has been ‘kidnapped’ by Israeli forces. 

Icelandic singer Stina was aboard a ship in international waters as part of Thousand Madleens to Gaza – a global maritime flotilla campaign who aim to ‘break the blockade of Gaza through peaceful solidarity’.

Stina last posted on Monday, sharing an Instagram video of her boat sailing alongside another ‘Freedom flotilla’ which is believed to have had Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on board. 

A pre-recorded post was then uploaded on Wednesday, showing Stina holding up her passport and declaring: ‘If you are seeing this video we have been intercepted at sea and kidnapped by the Israeli Occupation Forces’.

In response, Bjork, 59, shared a statement in which she praised Stina’s courage and called on the release of all hostages. 

She penned: ‘My childhood friend, musician Magga Stína has just been kidnapped by the Israeli army. She sailed on a boat following Greta Thunberg in trying to open the path for international aid to Gaza.’

Bjork has called for the ‘safe return’ of childhood friend Magga Stina, who she claims has been ‘kidnapped’ by Israeli forces 

Icelandic singer Stina was aboard a ship in international waters as part of Thousand Madleens to Gaza – a global maritime flotilla campaign 

The post continued: ‘I believe activism is as diverse as humans are. I support Magga Stína and Greta doing everything possible to try to stop the genocide in Palestine. 

‘It is illegal to starve people and hinder that food arrives to children.

‘Iceland has been first in recognising many small nation´s independence. We supported Palestine as a country in 2014.

‘We know after being a colony for 600 years what it feels like to be suppressed. Even though we are few, our voice matters and we can continue to set an example of having the courage to rise up against oppression and represent peace.

‘I ask Icelandic authorities to follow their own support for Palestine 11 years ago, to stop all business interactions with Israel until the genocide in Gaza stops and fight for Magga Stína’s safe return.

‘And in the same spirit: I ask all the world to bring every single nations hostage home. Warmthness [sic] Björk.’

Stina’s account had moments earlier posted the pre-recorded video claiming she had been kidnapped. 

While wearing a keffiyeh she said: ‘If you are seeing this video we have been intercepted at sea and kidnapped by the Israeli Occupation Forces – forces of a country complicit in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. 

‘We appeal to all our comrades, friends and family to put pressure on the Icelandic government to demand our releases as soon as possible.’

Daily Mail has contacted the Icelandic government.  

In response, Bjork, 59, shared a statement in which she praised Stina’s courage and called on the release of all hostages

Two days prior Swedish activist Thunberg, 22, was deported to Greece from Israel after military forces detained her and 170 other activists from the Freedom Flotilla while on international waters.

In recent months she has taken up the Palestinian cause, twice now attempting to reach the Gaza Strip to break Israel’s blockade of the enclave to allow for aid to reach starving people. 

On Tuesday, she alleged that she and other detainees of the Gaza flotilla were subjected to torture in the Israeli prison they were held.

Thunberg told a news conference in Stockholm that she and others were ‘kidnapped and tortured’ by the Israeli military.

She declined to elaborate, adding when pressed that she didn’t get clean water and that other detainees were deprived of critical medication.

‘Personally, I don’t want to share what I was subjected to because I don’t want it to make headlines and “Greta has been tortured”, because that’s not the story here,’ she said, adding that what they were subjected to paled in comparison to what people in Gaza experienced daily.

Israel’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment but has repeatedly denied mistreating the detainees.

‘All detainees … were given access to water, food, and restrooms; they were not denied access to legal counsel, and all their legal rights were fully upheld,’ a foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters last week.

Two days prior Greta Thunberg, 22, was deported to Greece from Israel after military forces detained her and 170 other activists from the Freedom Flotilla while on international waters

Thunberg was part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a group of vessels that tried to reach Gaza to bring aid supplies and draw attention to the plight of the enclave, where most of the 2.2 million residents have been driven from their homes and the United Nations says hunger is rampant.

Thunberg was detained along with 478 people in the flotilla and expelled from Israel on Monday.

Israel, which says reports of hunger in Gaza are exaggerated, has dismissed the flotilla as a publicity stunt benefiting Palestinian militant group Hamas. It had previously detained Thunberg at sea in a similar attempt to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza in June. 

Swedish activists said on Saturday that Thunberg was shoved and forced to wear an Israeli flag during her detention, but Thunberg made no mention of it during Tuesday’s press conference.

Thunberg and other participants also complained that the Swedish government had not given them sufficient help while detained.

The government said in a statement on Tuesday that it had repeatedly advised against all travel to Gaza but that it had nevertheless provided consular support to the activists and stressed to Israel the importance of treating Swedish citizens well.