Greta Thunberg has been booted out of Israel, still wearing her prison tracksuit after claiming she was ‘given very little food or water’ and was subjected to ‘harsh treatment’.
The Swedish climate activist looked downcast as she was spotted walking through Roman International Airport today.
She is among more than 70 people of different nationalities who have left Israel after they were seized aboard an intercepted Gaza aid flotilla.
Most, if not all, of those being released from Israeli detention were set to be flown to Greece, where they will be able to get flights to their home countries, their respective governments said on Sunday.
Thunberg, 22, was one of 437 activists, parliamentarians and lawyers who set out from Europe to deliver aid to Gaza by breaching Israel’s 18-year maritime blockade of the enclave as part of the Freedom Flotilla, comprised of more than 40 vessels.
According to Swedish foreign ministry officials who spoke to people close to the activist, Thunberg spoke of her harsh treatment at the hands of Israeli prison guards.
An email sent by officials, according to the Guardian, reads: ‘The embassy has been able to meet with Greta. She informed of dehydration. She has received insufficient amounts of both water and food.
‘She also stated that she had developed rashes which she suspects were caused by bedbugs. She spoke of harsh treatment and said she had been sitting for long periods on hard surfaces.’
‘Another detainee reportedly told another embassy that they had seen her [Thunberg] being forced to hold flags while pictures were taken. She wondered whether images of her had been distributed,’ the Swedish ministry’s official reportedly added.
Greta Thunberg and other activists seen walking through Ramon International Airport before being deported
The activist claimed throughout her detention, she had ‘little food’ and was subjected to ‘harsh treatment’
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (C) and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila (R), along with other activists, after the Israeli navy intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza on October 1, 2025
Turkish activist Ersin Çelik, who took part in the Freedom Flotilla, 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’.
Most of the seized activists are being held at Ketziot, also known as the Ansar III prison, a high-security facility in Israel’s Negev desert that is ordinarily used to hold Palestinian security prisoners accused of involvement in terrorist activities.
Talking to the Daily Mail, Sharren Haskel, Israel’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, said Thunberg wasn’t being held in a ‘prison’ but a ‘detention area’.
‘Everything that is being provided is quite comfortable and convenient, and is being supervised, but I’m sure they’ll try and push more propaganda,’ she said in regards to claims that the activist was being treated badly.
Those flying out of Israel on Monday include 28 French citizens, 27 Greeks, 15 Italians, and nine Swedes.
Twenty-one Spaniards separately returned to Spain on Sunday from Israel.
The release still leaves several foreigners in Israeli custody, including 28 Spanish nationals.
All had been on board the 45-vessel Global Sumud Flotilla carrying activists and politicians, who had been aiming to get past an Israeli blockade to deliver aid to Gaza, where the United Nations says famine has taken hold.
Israel started intercepting the ships in international waters on Wednesday.
An Israeli official said on Thursday that boats with more than 400 people on board had been prevented from reaching the Palestinian territory.
In footage posted to X by the Israel Foreign Ministry, Swedish climate activist Thunberg is seen among those being detained by officials
The Global Sumud Flotilla said its vessels were being boarded by military personnel, as it approached Palestinian territory, with cameras taken offline in a post on social media
Thunberg was part of the controversial convoy of around 43 boats and 500 activists and aid workers sailing on what they describe as a ‘peaceful mission’ to deliver supplies to Palestinians in Gaza
Greta Thunberg has been hauled off her ‘Freedom Flotilla’ by Israeli naval forces as it neared the besieged Gaza Strip
Acording to Swedish foreign ministry officials who spoke to people close to the activist, Thunberg spoke of her harsh treatment at the hands of the Israelis
The Italian and Greek foreign ministries said their released nationals would on Monday fly from Israel to Athens. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on X that the 15 Italians would have assistance for a subsequent transfer to Italy.
France’s foreign ministry said the 28 French citizens would be flown to Greece. They accounted for most of the 30 French nationals Israel seized aboard the flotilla.
The Swedish foreign ministry did not say where the Swedes would fly to, but Swedish media said they, too, could be put on the flight to Greece.
A first group of 26 Italians already left Israel on Saturday. But the last 15 had to wait for their judicial expulsion from the country as they refused to sign a form allowing their voluntary release.
Several of the Italians in the first group said after returning to their country that they were subjected to degrading treatment by the Israeli authorities.
Saverio Tommasi, a journalist for the online media site Fanpage, said he was hit in the back and on the head by his Israeli captors.
‘We were treated like old monkeys in the worst circuses of the 1920s,’ said Tommasi, cited by the Ansa press agency.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told AFP that embassy staff in Tel Aviv had been able to visit the nine Swedes in detention.
‘Late Sunday, the Israeli authorities informed us that they were set to authorise the Swedish citizens to leave Israel tomorrow (Monday) by plane,’ she said.
One of the Spaniards who returned home on Sunday, Rafael Borrego, told reporters that those detained by Israel had suffered ‘repeated physical and mental abuse’, including receiving blows and being forced to the ground.
Nine members of the Gaza aid flotilla arrived home in Switzerland on Sunday after being deported by Israel, with some alleging they had been subject to inhumane conditions whilst in detention there, the group representing them said.
Israel did not immediately comment on the new allegations.
Its foreign ministry previously described reports that detainees had been mistreated as ‘complete lies’.
Nineteen Swiss nationals, including the former mayor of Geneva Remy Pagani, were aboard boats in the flotilla of dozens of vessels that tried to deliver aid to Israeli-blockaded Gaza.
They were taken into custody on Wednesday by Israeli forces who intercepted the flotilla at sea and taken to Israel’s Ketziot prison, according to the Waves of Freedom flotilla group.
Nine of the group returned to Geneva on Sunday afternoon.
‘The participants condemned the inhumane detention conditions and the humiliating and degrading treatment they suffered upon their arrest and incarceration,’ a statement by the group said.
Israel said on Sunday that the legal rights of the activists were being ‘fully upheld’, that no physical force was used and all detainees were given access to water, food, and restrooms.
Detainees described conditions of sleep deprivation, lack of water and food, as well as some being beaten, kicked, and locked in a cage, the statement added.
Waves of Freedom said it is ‘deeply concerned’ about the ten Swiss nationals who remain detained by Israel.
On Sunday, the Swiss Embassy in Tel Aviv visited the ten Swiss nationals in prison to provide consular protection.
‘All are in relatively good health, given the circumstances,’ it said in a statement, adding it is doing everything possible to ensure their prompt return.
The Waves of Freedom said some have gone on hunger strike and appear weakened.
