Swedish activist Greta Thunberg can be amongst greater than 70 individuals of various nationalities to go away Israel on Monday after they had been seized aboard an intercepted Gaza assist flotilla.
Most, if not all, these being launched from Israeli detention can be flown to Greece, the place they’ll be capable of get flights to their residence nations, their respective governments stated on Sunday.
These flying out of Israel on Monday embrace 28 French residents, 27 Greeks, 15 Italians, and 9 Swedes.
Twenty-one Spaniards individually returned to Spain on Sunday from Israel.
The discharge nonetheless leaves a number of foreigners in Israeli custody, together with 28 Spanish nationals.
All had been on board the 42-vessel World Sumud Flotilla carrying activists and politicians, who had been aiming to get previous an Israeli blockade to ship assist to Gaza, the place the United Nations says famine has taken maintain — a cost that Israel rejects.
Activists in orange life jackets sit aboard a Gaza-bound Sumud flotilla boat as Israeli navy troopers sail it into the port of Ashdod, Israel, October 2, 2025, after it was intercepted whereas approaching the Gaza coast. (AP Photograph/Leo Correa)
Israel began intercepting the ships in worldwide waters on Wednesday, detaining the greater than 470 individuals who had been aboard the boats.
The Italian and Greek international ministries stated their launched nationals would on Monday fly from Israel to Athens. Italian Overseas Minister Antonio Tajani stated on X that the 15 Italians would have help for a subsequent switch to Italy.
France’s international ministry stated the 28 French residents can be flown to Greece. They accounted for a lot of the 30 French nationals Israel seized aboard the flotilla.
The Swedish international ministry didn’t say the place the Swedes would fly to, however Swedish media stated they, too, could possibly be placed on the flight to Greece.
The aircraft carrying the deported activists to Greece will take off from southern Israel’s Ramon Airport and land in Athens.
Swiss activists, who had been crusing aboard vessels from the World Sumud Flotilla, increase their fists after touchdown at Geneva Airport from Istanbul after Israel stopped a Gaza-bound flotilla and detained a whole lot of individuals, in Geneva on October 5, 2025. (Photograph by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
In whole, 170 flotilla activists have been deported to this point. Those that stay are being held in Ketziot jail, in what their authorized illustration has described as substandard circumstances.
On Sunday night, a Spanish activist prompted a stir within the jail by biting a medical workers member, jail workers stated.
They stated she bit the workers member whereas being escorted from a routine medical examination, as a part of preparations for her deportation, which was initially scheduled for tomorrow morning, however has since been pushed again.
The medical workers member was handled within the jail for minor accidents, and police had been referred to as to the scene to deal with the activist.
The incident was reported to have delayed the activist’s deportation, as she was taken for questioning and is because of seem earlier than a courtroom on Monday.
Authorized assist group Adalah has reported that the detained activists are being mistreated by the Israeli Jail Service, with some telling the Israeli Arab group’s attorneys that they had been denied meals and water, and others reporting that they had been manhandled by Israeli legislation enforcement.
Thunberg advised the Swedish Embassy on Saturday that she was affected by dehydration, having acquired “inadequate quantities of each water and meals.”
The embassy relayed that Greta had stated she “had developed rashes, which she suspects had been brought on by bedbugs. She spoke of harsh therapy and stated she had been sitting for lengthy durations on onerous surfaces.”
Whereas Israel’s Overseas Ministry dismissed the accusations of mistreatment as “brazen lies,” far-right Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the Israel jail system, appeared to get pleasure from the experiences, saying he was proud the activists had been being handled like terrorists.
“All of the detainees’ authorized rights are totally upheld,” wrote the Overseas Ministry on X.
This handout picture from police reveals anti-Israel activists from the World Sumud Flotilla being processed after they had been detained whereas attempting to interrupt Israel’s maritime blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza, October 2, 2025. (Israel Police)
In distinction, Ben Gvir stated that he visited Ketziot and “was proud that we’re treating the ‘flotilla activists’ as terror supporters, whoever helps terrorism is a terrorist, and deserves the circumstances of terrorists.”
The Sumud flotilla, which set sail in late August, marked the newest try by activists to problem Israel’s years-long naval blockade of Gaza.
Comparable makes an attempt had been intercepted in June and July, amid spiking worldwide anger at Israel over the humanitarian disaster within the Strip. Israeli officers have denounced the Sumud and different missions as pro-Hamas media stunts.
In an August report that Israel has rejected, the UN declared a famine in elements of northern Gaza. Israel, which blocked the entry of assist into Gaza for almost three months till Could, has accused Hamas of systematically looting assist getting into the Strip for the reason that struggle there was sparked when the Palestinian terror group invaded Israel on October 7, 2023.
In the meantime, a brand new nine-boat flotilla organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition can be anticipated to method Gaza quickly and be intercepted by the Israeli Navy. The mission, stated to incorporate about 100 activists on one of many boats, set sail from Italy a few week in the past and was approaching the coast of Egypt’s Alexandria, its live-tracker confirmed Saturday.
