Israel deports Greta Thunberg and 170 other Gaza flotilla activists

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has said that 171 activists detained from the Global Sumud aid flotilla, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were deported to Greece and Slovakia on Monday.

In a post on X, the ministry said that the deported activists were citizens of Greece, Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, Norway, the UK, Serbia, and the United States.

It also shared photos of Greta and other participants of the Sumud Flotilla at the airport before being deported.

Citing the Israeli foreign ministry, AFP reported that 138 activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla still remain in custody, days after Israeli forces intercepted the convoy attempting to break the blockade on Gaza. The flotilla, consisting of 45 vessels, had set out to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave, where the United Nations has warned of famine following two years of devastating conflict.

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Israel began intercepting the flotilla in international waters on Wednesday, and by Thursday, an Israeli official confirmed that boats carrying more than 400 people had been stopped from reaching the Palestinian coast.

Several international activists deported from Israel and later arriving in Istanbul on Saturday said that they were subjected to violence and degrading treatment, claiming they were “treated like animals.”