A man accused of being “a Hamas operative” based in London is a key figure behind Greta Thunberg’s Gaza-bound aid boat, it emerged on Monday.

Zaher Birawi, who was described in Parliament as a person with links to Hamas, describes himself as a “founding member” of the Freedom Flotilla International Coalition, which arranged the voyage by the aid boat Madleen.

Israeli forces boarded and seized the boat on Sunday – detaining the 12 pro-Palestinian activists it was carrying, including Ms Thunberg – as it attempted to bring a “symbolic” amount of aid to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade.

Mr Birawi, a Palestinian-British journalist at an Arabic-language satellite TV channel in London, was at the launch of the Madleen a week ago, livestreaming it from its dock in Sicily. Ms Thunberg gave a speech before the boat set sail for Gaza.