Beatings, gassing & caging: Greta Thunberg shares shocking torture details from Israeli detention
Greta Thunberg recounted beatings, threats, and deliberate humiliation, ordeals that have shocked the world.
Activist Greta Thunberg recently shared some harrowing details of what she described as torture and abuse during five days in Israeli custody, after the flotilla she joined to deliver aid to Gaza was allegedly seized by Israeli forces.
In a conversation with Aftonbladet, the Swedish climate activist recounted beatings, threats, and deliberate humiliation, ordeals that have shocked the world and raised sharp criticism of both Israel's military and Sweden's diplomatic response.
Thunberg's testimony during the interaction paints a grim picture, which involves detainees packed into cages under the sun, threatened with gassing, denied water, and subjected to verbal and physical abuse.
The activist further wondered that if she was treated this way despite her global visibility and Swedish passport, it only exposes how much worse Palestinian detainees are likely to face behind closed doors.
"What we have been through is only a small, small part of what Palestinians have experienced. On the walls of our prison cells, we saw bullet holes with bloodstains and messages carved into the walls by Palestinian prisoners who had been there before us," Thunberg said.
Beatings, kicking, and humiliation at the port
During her interview, Greta Thunberg described how, after the boat was held, dragged to a fenced area, hit and kicked, had her hat stomped on, and was forced to sit with a flag against her while guards mocked her.
She further said that her hands were tied tightly with cable ties, and guards took selfies with her while she was restrained. Every time she lifted her head, she was kicked.
"It was kind of dystopian. I saw maybe 50 people sitting in a row on their knees with handcuffs and their foreheads against the ground," she said.
Threats of being gassed in cages
Greta also recounted that around 60 detainees were placed in a small outdoor cage under the sun with little space to sit. When some fainted and they begged for medical help, guards held up a gas cylinder and threatened to gas them — something Greta said was "standard" during captivity.
"When people fainted, we banged on the cages and asked for a doctor. Then the guards came and said, 'We're going to gas you.' It was standard for them to say that. They held up a gas cylinder and threatened to press it against us," she was quoted as saying.
Violent treatment and verbal abuse
Greta recounted that she was repeatedly called degrading names in Swedish ("Lilla hora" and "Hora Greta"), had an Israeli flag thrown over her, and was told "a special place for a special lady" as she was separated from others.
Far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir shouted at detainees, calling them "terrorists" and threatening them with harsh treatment, she claimed.
"He shouted,' You are terrorists. You want to kill Jewish babies.' Those who shouted back were taken aside and beaten. They were thrown to the ground and beaten. But I could only see it out of the corner of my eye, because every time I lifted my head from the ground, I was kicked by the guard standing next to me," Greta said.
"They moved me very brutally to a corner that I was turned towards. 'A special place for a special lady,' they said. And then they had learned 'Lilla hora' (Little whore) and 'Hora Greta' (Whore Greta) in Swedish, which they repeated all the time," she further said.
Deprivation of water, food and medical help
Throughout five days in detention, as she recalls, detainees were denied clean water and were forced to drink from toilet sinks. Guards mocked them by drinking from their bottles and throwing full water bottles into trash cans in front of them. They also threw away people's medications, including heart, cancer, and insulin medicines.
"There are many days—four? Time blurs together; there were no clocks. They receive hardly any food and no clean water during their entire captivity, but are forced to drink from the tap in the toilet sink, where something brown flows. Several became ill," she said.
Isolation, insects, and threatening interrogation
Thunberg claimed she was placed in an isolation cell, which was "full of insects."
She said she was forced to undress during searches, filmed, and subjected to rough handling, such as being blindfolded, tied, and transported in a cold car cell at night.
‘We offered Hamas to exchange you for hostages,’ and stared at me silently. When I asked after a while, ‘What is this about?’, they said, 'We were joking. Others repeated: 'This is not genocide. Trust us, if we wanted to carry out genocide, we could do it," Greta said as she recounted her experience.
Israel's reaction
While Israel has not commented on these torture allegations, the foreign ministry earlier described reports that detainees were mistreated as "complete lies".
The flotilla, which set sail in late August, marked the latest attempt by activists to challenge the Israeli naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, where Israel has been waging a war since Palestinian militant group Hamas's deadly attack on Israel in October 2023.
