- Witnesses from the Sumud Freedom Flotilla have testified that Greta Thunberg and others were humiliated and abused while detained by Israel.
- The flotilla, carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, was seized in international waters – a violation of maritime law and international jurisdiction.
When Greta Thunberg was detained by Israeli forces for the second time, while participating in the Sumud Freedom Flotilla, it was devastating though not entirely unexpected given Israel’s record of hostility toward humanitarian missions. The 22 year old Swedish environmental campaigner, among the most recognisable activists of her generation, was among 462 humanitarians aboard 42 vessels attempting to deliver medical aid to Gaza through international waters.
Despite the flotilla’s strictly peaceful humanitarian mission, and while being shadowed by naval ships from Spain, Italy and Turkey, countries that had pledged limited maritime oversight, it was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters, an act that constitutes piracy under maritime law and a flagrant breach of international norms.
The interception was followed by detention and the use of humiliation and intimidation to send a message. The humanitarians included lawyers, journalists, politicians, aid workers and human rights defenders from over forty countries, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson. Multiple eyewitnesses have described degradation, humiliation, physical violence and psychological torment inside Israeli custody. Their accounts, given independently, are consistent and chilling. Detainees report being dragged by the hair, forced to crawl, denied food and clean water, proper sanitation and were confined in infested cells. Several were allegedly forced to kiss or hold Israeli flags under duress. Greta Thunberg was reportedly subjected to some of the harsher humiliation. One of the released detainees, Turkish activist Ersin Celik said: “They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others”. It raised the question, if such treatment can be inflicted on a prominent Western figure, then what must Palestinians endure beyond the world’s view, whose stories rarely reach the global stage.
Israel rejected the accusations of mistreatment, as it routinely does when confronted with evidence of abuse. The Foreign Ministry dismissed the testimonies as “brazen lies”. However, the sheer number of consistent accounts from people of varied nationalities and professions, including respected activists, journalists, and legal representatives who lived through the ordeal, renders its denial meaningless.
Adding to the contradiction, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir publicly celebrated the harsh treatment of detainees, openly contradicting his own government’s position. He described the flotilla activists as “supporters of terrorism”, declaring that “anyone who supports terrorism is a terrorist and deserves the same conditions as terrorists”. He mocked the detainees, saying those expecting “red carpets and trumpets” were “mistaken” and should “get a good feel for the conditions in Ketziot prison before approaching Israel again”.
He was even filmed taunting the activists as they were brought ashore, turning what should have been a matter of legal accountability into a display of ideological cruelty. His comments directly undermined his own government’s denial and exposed the punitive intent behind the detention, confirming that the humiliation was deliberate. Independent outlets including The Guardian, Reuters, and AP News have also confirmed both the mass detentions and reports of degrading treatment.
The toll on activists continues to grow. Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian sociologist and father of a two-year-old, is reportedly held in an Israeli prison and has begun a hunger strike, refusing food and water until all flotilla detainees are freed. According to friends’ testimonies, he is likely being held in solitary confinement, a tactic previously used against him during earlier detentions. His story has drawn emotional responses from supporters worldwide, with one post reading: “Thiago has a 2-year-old daughter growing up without him in Brazil. Meanwhile, he’s in the dungeons of an Israeli prison… He’s on a hunger strike until Israel frees the flotilla members they kidnapped.”
At the same time, American veteran Greg J. Stoker, one of 23 U.S. delegates reportedly detained by Israel, was released on Monday 6th October, following public pressure. Stoker’s supporters revealed that many American detainees were denied access to lawyers and forced to sign paperwork to prolong their detention, with calls now mounting for the immediate release of the remaining U.S. citizens still in custody. Stoker recalled that detainees were prevented access to vital medications like insulin and they were told that “there are no doctors for animals”.
Religious leader Imam Omar Suleiman highlighted Israel’s impunity stating that “it has shown since the days of the USS Liberty that it does not care what it does to our citizens because our government does not care enough to rescue its citizens against its main partner in genocide” and that “Israel knows that it can do whatever it wants to our government and in spite of our government”. He went on to condemn the continued reluctance to support its citizens’ unlawful imprisonment.
Israel’s attempts to discredit the flotilla mission extended beyond the humiliation it inflicted on captives. It insisted that “there was no aid” on board – a claim flatly contradicted by independent and official evidence. UN human rights experts verified that the convoy carried “essential medical aid, food, and baby supplies”.Even Israel’s own radio communications, reported by ABC News Australia, offered to offload the flotilla’s “shipments of aid” in Ashdod – no doubt a symbolic gesture designed to deflect accountability rather than alleviate suffering. If Israel had any genuine intention of allowing Palestinians to receive aid, there would be no blockade to begin with. The flotilla existed precisely because Israel has obstructed humanitarian access through every land crossing, forcing civilians to resort to the maritime route. Offering to “offload” the aid after hijacking the ships is a public relations exercise.
Reuters and Euronews both described the vessels as carrying medicine and food, while the flotilla’s own livestream tracker documented loading footage and cargo storage. Earlier voyages such as the June 2025 “Madleen” mission published verified manifests listing baby formula, flour, medical kits, crutches and diapers thereby establishing a consistent pattern of genuine humanitarian delivery.
A striking feature of this flotilla mission is that it was being escorted and monitored by naval ships from Italy, Spain and Turkey – nations that pledged limited maritime support. Yet some have questioned the sincerity of this support. Journalist Yusuf Omar observed that these escorts appear to act more as “emergency boats” than true protectors of humanitarian missions. In his words,
“In reality, they’re effectively acting as an emergency boat. ‘If anything happens, we will be here to support you’… These are navies that have the capability to actually safeguard the mission. And yes they stopped drone attacks over the last few days. Yes there’s been a de-escalation of those explosives that were being dropped onto the flotilla mission. But can they actually commit. Can they say ‘hey we’re going to surround the flotilla. We’re going to safely allow you to pass and reach Gaza because what you are doing is legal under international law and Israel’s attempts to stop the flotilla is illegal’. Is this actually PR for you, to show your country that you are doing the right thing but not actually committed to this cause.”
Following the Sumud flotilla’s capture, a new convoy of nine civilian boats has since departed from Catania, Italy, under the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and Thousand Madleens initiative. The new wave includes activists, medics and nine elected parliamentarians from over twenty countries. Their mission is to continue the voyage to Gaza that Israel illegally halted.
Among those detained during the previous flotilla’s voyage, the Madleen, was Robert Martin, an Australian journalist and activist. Reflecting on his imprisonment, Martin described the experience in stark terms:
“When I was in prison, we talked about how lucky we were to have a white passport. Palestinians don’t have that privilege. They get lost in the system, beaten, tortured, raped, disappeared. We heard their screams at night. And I believe the Israelis wanted us to hear. That’s the level of depravity we are dealing with.”
If a Western citizen with global recognition can be humiliated, abused and silenced, one can only image the scale of suffering thousands of nameless Palestinians endure in Israeli cells every day, away from cameras and headlines.
