• Climate activist describes beatings, threats, dehydration, and deliberate humiliation during detention following Global Sumud Flotilla’s attempt to deliver aid to Gaza, saying Swedish Foreign Ministry failed to act
• 'What we have been through is only a small part of what Palestinians have experienced,' Greta Thunberg tells Swedish daily Aftonbladet

ISTANBUL

Famed Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has recounted the five harrowing days she spent in Israeli custody earlier this month following the attempt by a humanitarian flotilla to deliver aid to Gaza, according to local media.

Describing Israeli forces “beating, kicking, and threats of being gassed in cages,” the climate activist shared vivid details of her ordeal alongside other Swedish participants in the Global Sumud aid flotilla, which sought to break Israel’s years-long blockade of humanitarian food and medical aid to the Gaza Strip.

“This is not about me or the others from the flotilla. There are thousands of Palestinians, hundreds of whom are children, who are being held without trial right now, and many of them are most likely being tortured,” Thunberg told Swedish daily Aftonbladet, stressing the broader plight of Gaza’s residents.

The ordeal began when masked Israeli soldiers with automatic weapons boarded the flotilla boats, she said.

Thunberg described being forced to sit in a circle in the sweltering heat while soldiers tore through supplies, throwing medicines and food into trash cans.

“It was extremely hot down there … We begged the whole time: Can we have water? Can we have water? In the end, we screamed. The guards walked in front of the bars the whole time, laughing and holding up their water bottles,” she said, highlighting the psychological toll of the deliberate deprivation and mockery.  

'They kicked me while the Israeli flag touched me'

The activist said the boat was eventually taken to Ashdod, Israel’s largest industrial port, where the violence only escalated.

She described being dragged across a paved area with an Israeli flag pressed against her and repeatedly being kicked. Her hands were tightly bound, and guards lined up to take selfies while she sat humiliated.

“I was dragged to a paved area fenced in with iron, and they hit and kicked me while an Israeli flag touched me. They ripped off my frog hat, threw it on the ground, stomped it, and yelled insults in Swedish,” Thunberg said.

“They moved me very brutally to a corner … ‘A special place for a special lady,’ they said. And then they had learned (the phrases) ‘Lilla hora’ (Little w*ore) and ‘Hora Greta’ (W*ore Greta) in Swedish, which they repeated all the time.”

Thunberg also described threats and physical abuse from far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who shouted, “You are terrorists. You want to kill Jewish babies,” while others who protested were beaten.  

'Everything they do is extremely violent'

Guards regularly threatened detainees with gas, forced them to stand or kneel for hours in extreme heat, and kept them in small, overcrowded cells with little food or water. In one cell, detainees were forced to drink brown tap water, and some became ill.

“The guards have no empathy or humanity … Everything they do is extremely violent. People’s medications – heart, cancer, insulin – were thrown away in front of their eyes,” she said.

Thunberg also noted seeing bullet holes and bloodstains on prison walls, alongside messages carved by Palestinian prisoners held before her.

Yet she again stressed that the story’s focus should remain on Gaza, not the mistreatment of the flotilla participants: “What we have been through is only a small, small part of what Palestinians have experienced.”   

Foreign Ministry 'didn’t do anything'

The flotilla, made up of 500 volunteers age 18 to 78, included teachers, doctors, students, and parliamentarians. Many participants, including Jewish volunteers, risked family estrangement to protest Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

The Swedish Foreign Ministry, according to Thunberg and other detainees, largely failed to step in to help its detained citizens. “They didn’t do anything … just said: ‘Our job is to listen to you. We are here and you are entitled to consular support’,” Thunberg said.

Emails reviewed by Aftonbladet confirm that the detainees’ relatives were given softened accounts of the events, while crucial details – including the lack of water and medical attention – were omitted.

Thunberg and other flotilla members plan to file complaints with the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Relatives and participants criticized the government for failing to uphold the rights of Swedish citizens.