SWEDISH activist Greta Thunberg landed in Greece on Monday alongside scores of fellow campaigners expelled from Israel after trying to ship aid to Gaza, AFP journalists saw.
The 22-year-old climate campaigner was one of hundreds of people who had boarded a flotilla that tried to break through an Israeli blockade of the war-stricken territory, with many complaining on their return to Europe of mistreatment at the hands of the Israeli authorities.
Thunberg and 160 others landed at Athens International Airport, where crowds of activists welcomed them.
She called the Global Sumud Flotilla "the biggest ever attempt to break Israel's illegal and inhumane siege by sea."
"That this mission has to exist is a shame," she added, urging the world to act to prevent Israel's "genocide" of the Palestinians.
"We are not even seeing the bare minimum from our governments," Thunberg said as reported by AFP.
Activists unfurled a huge Palestinian flag in the arrivals hall and chanted: "Freedom for Palestine" and "Long live the flotilla!"
One of those landing in Greece, Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian member of the European Parliament, reported having been hit by Israeli police after the flotilla was intercepted.
"I was beaten by two police officers when they put me in the van," she told AFP.
Hassan said she and other detainees were kept in groups of up to 15 per cell on mattresses in a high-security Israeli prison.
Yasmin Acar, a member of the flotilla's steering committee, said the detainees were "treated like animals" and "terrorists."
"We were physically assaulted, we were deprived of sleep," Acar said. "We did not have any clean water. The first 48 hours, there was no food, no water at all."
Israel has rejected the accusations of mistreatment as untrue. - October 7, 2025
