Swedish climate and human rights activist Greta Thunberg was among hundreds deported by Israel after being jailed for trying to deliver aid to Gaza.
At least 450 activists were aboard the flotilla, a coalition of several vessels seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to the blockaded Palestinian territory. Israeli forces detained them last week, and by Monday had deported Thunberg and 170 others to countries including Greece and Slovakia.
Thunberg and others described suffering from dehydration, receiving insufficient amounts of water and food, and developing rashes while in Israeli detention.
“I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment — trust me,” Thunberg said in Athens, where she was greeted by a large crowd of supporters “But that is not the story.”
Flotilla participants claim Israeli forces violated maritime and international humanitarian laws by intercepting their boats, while Israel says the activists violated its legal blockade with their “publicity stunt.”
Israel’s military assault on the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas has, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, killed more than 67,000 people, most of them women and children.
Famine has been declared in the region as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on humanitarian aid. A United Nations commission of inquiry and the world’s foremost experts on genocide, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, declared in September that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide.
