Activist Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel on Tuesday and en route to Sweden after authorities removed her from an aid ship headed to Gaza.

The climate activist was placed on a flight to France and is later set to be transported to her home country of Sweden. She along with 12 others were sailing for the shores of Gaza on the Madleen, on a trip sponsored by the Freedom Flotilla to support Palestinians in need of humanitarian assistance.

Their ship was redirected to the Ashdod Port, where four passengers chose to be deported and eight others remain in custody, awaiting appearances before a judge.

The Freedom Flotilla organization has said the seizure of its vessel is a “violation of international law,” but Israeli leaders point to the naval blockade in Gaza for their actions.

Freedom Flotilla leaders said in a Tuesday post on X that the eight individuals detained “are expected to be moved to the Ramleh detention facility unless they agree to leave immediately, in which case they may be permitted to fly out of Tel Aviv as early as tonight.”

“We continue to demand the immediate release of all volunteers and the return of the stolen aid,” they added. 

Israeli authorities have dubbed the ship a “Selfie Yacht” filled with celebrities who intended to use the conflict in the region to attract media attention. 

“While Greta and others attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity — and which included less than a single truckload of aid — more than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks, and in addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote in a post on X.

“There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip — they do not involve Instagram selfies. The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the ‘celebrities’ will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels.”