Greta Thunberg and the Global Sumud Flotilla

Image via Associate Press

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In September 2025, Gaza City and its surrounding territory were reported to be officially suffering from famine. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a group of United Nations-backed experts, reports that over half a million people in Gaza are facing starvation, acute malnutrition, and death. In mid-October 2025, in an attempt to “open a humanitarian corridor” to Gaza and help lessen this famine, a group of ships, known as the Global Sumud Flotilla, departed for the Gaza Strip from Barcelona with hundreds of pro-Palestine activists, making it the largest attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to those in Gaza. 

The Global Sumud Flotilla, led by a coalition of humanitarians, doctors, clergy, and lawyers from 57 countries, was on a safe voyage to Gaza with medicine, food, and water when their ships were intercepted by Israeli Forces. Over 400 pro-Palestine advocates were detained and kept in Israeli custody, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. Thunberg, along with dozens of other detainees, was deported to countries such as Greece and Spain, with 130 other activists remaining in Israeli detention. 

Upon her arrival in Athens, Greece, reporters asked Thunberg to describe the conditions she faced during her time in custody. Thunberg responded, “They were nothing compared to what people are going through in Palestine.” Thunberg, along with fellow activists on the flotilla, did not embark on this voyage for fame and praise, but rather to assist Gazans living in unimaginable conditions and provide them with necessities they’ve been deprived of. Despite the Flotilla’s pure intention of providing civilians with food and water, the Israeli navy stopped the flotilla from entering Gaza and “illegally attacked” and “kidnapped” all on board, according to Thunberg’s recount of the events. 

Greg Stoker, a prominent anti-war activist and former U.S. Military veteran, was among those on the flotilla captured. In a video update posted to his Instagram, Stoker compared Israeli detention to a “terror gulag” with no showers and food scarcity. He said detainees had their essential medication, including insulin, taken from them, as they were told by authorities that there are “no doctors for animals.” Stoker went on to credit his quick homecoming to his local representatives in Texas, who advocated for his release. 

Italian journalist Saverio Tommasi, another flotilla member, said when interviewed on his return from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport last Sunday that Israeli authorities treated him and his counterparts “like monkeys.” Tommasi claimed to have been “beaten from the moment [he] entered the port until the very end.” He described being hit in his back as well as his head while Israeli soldiers “laughed at all of it.” Tommasi goes on to describe the especially cruel and unusual punishment given to Greta Thunberg by Israeli forces. “We also saw Greta Thunberg at the port, in that case with her arms tied and an Israeli flag next to her, just a mockery,” he reported. Lorenzo D’Agostino, another Italian journalist among the detainees, also reported the singling out of the young Swedish activist; “I saw with my own eyes that they draped an Israeli flag over her while soldiers took selfies with her.”

The focus on Thunberg stems from her anti-Israel rhetoric, which she has shared across social media. Since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza after Hamas’s attack on October 7th, 2023, Thunberg, along with many other pro-Palestine advocates, has called for an immediate ceasefire. She has very publicly referred to the conflict as a genocide and an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. These outspoken opinions have not been received well by many pro-Israel Americans, including President Trump, who, when speaking about the capturing and deportation of Thunberg from Israel, referred to her as “so crazy” and a “troublemaker.” The President told reporters that the young Swedish activist has “an anger management problem.”

While there are some well-structured critiques against Thunberg’s activism, such as the argument that she focuses more on protest than policy solution, deeming a young woman speaking out against the induced famine of civilians as angry or radical is absurd, especially when the critiques come from a political figurehead. While Thunberg, as well as the fellow activists on the flotilla, have been especially outspoken about their anti-Israel ideals, the sole purpose of the Global Sumud Flotilla was to provide Palestinian civilians with water, food, and medicine. It has been approximately one month since famine was officially declared in Gaza, and yet Israel is still actively blocking humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians.

This deliberate blockade raises questions: if this conflict truly exists between the Israeli military and the terrorist group Hamas, why is the Israeli government not allowing innocent civilians basic human necessities? Why try to torture and silence activists speaking out against this famine? It is crucial that we as a society continue to ask these questions and pay attention to the atrocities being committed around us. The starving Palestinians are made up of children, parents, and loved ones who were once students, doctors, and journalists, such as you and I, and they are completely undeserving of the horrors they are being made to suffer. 

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This article was edited by Emma Cate Martin and Isabel Adkins.