Thunberg among 171 deported from Israel, as Gaza activists allege mistreatment
Some activists from the flotilla alleged sleep deprivation, lack of water and food, as well as some being beaten, an allegation Israel denied
Israel said on Monday it deported campaigner Greta Thunberg and another 170 activists from an international flotilla it prevented last week from delivering aid to Gaza, sending them to Greece and Slovakia.
Earlier, Swiss and Spanish activists from the flotilla said they were subjected to inhumane conditions during their detention by Israeli forces. Monday’s expulsions brought to 341 the total number deported from 479 detained.
Israel’s foreign ministry issued a statement, accompanied by photos of Thunberg at the airport, saying all participants’ legal rights had been upheld, and the only violence involved an activist who bit a female doctor at Israel’s Ketziot prison.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said Thunberg, a Swedish campaigner primarily for climate change, boarded a plane at Ramon International Airport in southern Israel. Israel has dismissed the flotilla as a publicity stunt.
The deportees are citizens of Greece, Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, Norway, the UK, Serbia and the United States, the foreign ministry said.
