Israel escalating genocide, mass destruction with genocidal intent: Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg in Greece:

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.

Israel is escalating genocide and mass destruction with genocidal intent, attempting to erase an entire population in… pic.twitter.com/nhpDtCXmiK

Thunberg arrived in Greece to a cheering pro-Palestinian crowd on Monday after she and hundreds of other activists captured by Israel on the high seas were deported following an attempt to bring aid to Gaza.

Israel said it expelled 171 activists on Monday including Thunberg, bringing the total deported over so far to 341, out of 479 people it detained when it captured the flotilla attempting to break its naval blockade of Gaza.

The Greek Foreign Ministry said 161 of the activistsarrived on a flight to Athens on Monday, including Thunberg, 22.

Mistreatment in detention

An Israeli legal center confirmed that international activists detained from a Gaza aid flotilla were mistreated in detention.

“Many activists testified that from the beginning of the kidnapping from international waters, a series of violations and ill treatment started,” Lubna Tuma, a legal counsel for the Adalah Legal Centre, said in a video statement.

“They were forced to sit on knees and elbows. Their foreheads were on the floor, and they kept that for more than one hour. They were not allowed to move or talk to each other.”

Tuma said Israeli authorities held hearings for the detained activists at Ashdod Port in southern Israel in the absence of lawyers.

“That means that numerous activists started the administrative procedure without having a legal counsel,” she said.

“Many activists, as well, testified that they were kept in small rooms. We are speaking about three-meter rooms. Fifteen activists stay there together. They were handcuffed from behind for more than five hours. They didn't get any food or any water for many, many, many hours. All the activists, when we asked them if they saw a doctor, any medical treatment, they said no one saw them.”

Abuses by Israeli soldiers

“Many activists also testified that there were insults like laughing in front of their faces, and they felt physical torture. The behavior towards women was much harder and much more severe than men,” Tuma said.

“We also noticed that there is different treatment towards Arab citizens, we heard testimonies from other people…that the women with hijab were prohibited from wearing the hijab in prison and prohibited from praying."

“There is an escalation of ill treatment this time due to the huge number. The objective of the Israeli authorities is to prevent anyone from thinking even about coming back on another flotilla, or dare even to think about entering humanitarian aid.”

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Israeli naval forces attacked and seized vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla beginning on Wednesday and detained more than 470 activists from over 50 countries. The flotilla had been attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and challenge Israel’s blockade of the enclave.

Israel has maintained the blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for almost 18 years.

UN alarmed by reports of abuse against activists

The UN human rights office said it had received "worrying information" about the treatment of participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla detained in Israel.

"We have received worrying information of ill-treatment and violations of due process rights of the flotilla participants," spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told Anadolu in a statement.

He added that the office "has long raised the alarm regarding the intentionally degrading conditions" in Israeli prisons and detention centers.

Since October 2023, Israeli bombardments have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it all but uninhabitable.