Israel deports Greta Thunberg and 170 other Gaza flotilla activists

Israel has deported Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and 170 other pro-Palestinian activists who were detained when Israeli forces intercepted a flotilla trying to breach its naval blockade of Gaza to deliver aid last week.

Thunberg raised her fist as she was presented with flowers and cheered by dozens of supporters who had gathered at Athens airport.

The Israeli foreign minister said the activists had been flown to Greece and Slovakia, and that Greek, Slovakian, French, Italian, British and US citizens were among them.

It also once again rejected as “fake news” accusations that the activists were mistreated and denied basic rights while in detention.

So far, the ministry has announced the deportations of 341 of the 479 people who were on board the 42 boats in the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF).

The 138 other activists remain in detention in Israel. More than 40 were confirmed to be on hunger strike on Sunday, according to the GSF.

It said the goal of the flotilla was to “break the illegal siege on Gaza by sea, open a humanitarian corridor, and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people”.

It also said the interceptions violated international maritime and humanitarian law.

Israeli authorities said they enforced a legal blockade and called the flotilla a “publicity stunt” because it was transporting only two tons of aid in total.

Greece’s foreign ministry said Thunberg was among 161 citizens of 16 European countries who were flown to Athens on Monday after being deported by Israel. Slovakia said it had received 10 other people on a separate flight.

On arrival in Athens, the Swedish activist told reporters that the GSF had been “the biggest ever attempt to break Israel’s illegal and inhumane siege by sea”.

“It was a story of global, international solidarity, of people stepping up when our governments failed to do so, of people saying that: ‘My so-called leaders – who were supposed to represent me, who continue to fuel a genocide, death and destruction – they do not represent me. This is a last resort. That this mission has to exist is a shame.”

“I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment, trust me, but that is not the story,” she added.

On Sunday night, lawyer Rafael Borrego was among a group of deported Spanish activists who told reporters at Madrid airport that they had suffered “repeated physical and mental abuse”.

“They beat us, dragged us along the ground, blindfolded us, tied our hands and feet, put us in cages and insulted us,” he alleged.

Nine Swiss nationals who returned to Geneva on Sunday also complained about what they called the “inhumane detention conditions and the humiliating and degrading treatment”, Reuters news agency cited a statement as saying.

The Israeli foreign ministry’s statement on Monday insisted that the flotilla activists’ legal rights “were and will continue to be fully upheld”.

“The lies they are spreading are part of their pre-planned fake news campaign,” it said.

The ministry said the only violent incident happened when a Spanish citizen bit a female medical worker at Ketziot prison following a routine medical examination ahead of her deportation on Monday. The medic sustained minor injuries, it added.

The GSF’s boats set sail from Barcelona at the end of last month after experts from the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed there was a famine in Gaza City, and warned that it could spread to central and southern Gaza within weeks.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has said at least 460 Palestinians have died from the effects of malnutrition since the start of the war, including 182 since the famine declaration.

The UN has called on Israel to urgently lift the blockade on Gaza and allow the entry of life-saving material through all means possible.

It has said that as the occupying power, Israel is obliged under international law to ensure sufficient food and medical supplies reach Gaza’s population.

Israel has insisted it acts in accordance with international law and facilitates the entry of aid.

It has also disputed the IPC’s findings and the health ministry’s figures, and strongly denied the allegation – most recently made by a UN commission of inquiry – that its forces have committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 67,160 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.