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Greta Thunberg Describes Israeli Guards’ Torture of Gaza Aid Flotilla Activists

HeadlineOct 16, 2025
Image Credit: Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters

The Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has provided details about the torture and abuse she and other participants of the Global Sumud Flotilla suffered in Israeli detention, after they were abducted on the high seas while attempting to bring food and medicine to Gaza. Thunberg describes a visit by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Ktzi’ot Prison, where the activists were being held. She says he shouted, “You are terrorists! You want to kill Jewish babies!” and those who shouted back were taken aside and beaten. Thunberg says she was repeatedly kicked by guards, forced to undress, and was held in an insect-infested cell where she was deprived of food and water. She says she was repeatedly called a “whore” in Swedish by the Israeli guards, who scrawled the word and other profane graffiti on her suitcase. Thunberg said, “If Israel, with the whole world watching, can treat a well-known, white person with a Swedish passport this way, just imagine what they do to Palestinians behind closed doors.”

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