Israel's Foreign Ministry says 12 activists, including Greta Thunberg, have disembarked in the Israeli port of Ashdod after their Gaza-bound boat was seized.

They are undergoing medical checks to ensure they are in good health.

The ministry has published photographs on social media of Thunberg in the port of Ashdod. The activists are expected to be transferred to a detention facility ahead of deportation from Israel.

Israeli forces seized the Gaza-bound aid boat and detained Thunberg and other activists who were on board early Monday, enforcing a longstanding blockade of the Palestinian territory that has been tightened during the Israel-Hamas war.

The boat, accompanied by the Israeli navy, was spotted off southern Israel's coast on Monday evening on its way to the Ashdod port, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene. The activists were expected to be held at a detention facility before being deported, according to Adalah, a legal rights group representing the activists.

The activists had set out to protest Israel's ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which is among the deadliest and most destructive since World War II, and its restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid, both of which have put the territory of around 2 million Palestinians at risk of famine.as-war