‘We Cannot Take Eyes’ off Gaza: Thunberg Condemns Complicity in Genocide

October 7, 2025

Freed Gaza flotilla activist Greta Thunberg has urged the world not to take its eyes off the Gaza Strip. (Photo: video grab)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

“This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fuelled by our own government, our institutions, our media, and companies.”

Freed Gaza flotilla activist Greta Thunberg has urged the world not to take its eyes off the Gaza Strip, while condemning governments for their complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocidal assault on the enclave.

“We cannot take our eyes away from Gaza, from all the places of the world that are suffering, living on the forefront of this business-as-usual system,” Thunberg told a large crowd at an Athens airport following her arrival on Monday, after being deported by Israeli authorities following her detention for participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla bound for the Strip.

“This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fuelled by our own government, our institutions, our media, and companies. It is our responsibility to end that complicity,” the Swedish activist, who was among a group of 171 freed activists, said.

Israeli naval forces attacked and seized vessels of the flotilla in international waters beginning late last Wednesday into Thursday. More than 400 activists from 47 countries were abducted and forcibly taken to Israel, where they were imprisoned.

Legal Obligations

There were cheers as Thunberg and other activists arrived in Greece, greeted by supporters after their ordeal.

“International law states have a legal obligation to act to prevent and to stop a genocide. Ending complicity, applying real pressure and ending arms transfers. We are not seeing that. We are not even seeing the bare minimum from our government,” the 22-year-old stated.

Thunberg, who was subjected to harsh and degrading treatment while in Israeli custody, said she “could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment.”

‘Not the Story’

She added: “Trust me, but that is not the story. What happened here was that Israel, while continuing to worsen and escalate their genocide and mass destruction with genocidal intent, attempting to erase an entire population, … once again violated international law by preventing humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza while people are being starved.”

Denying that the activists were “heroes,” she said it was “a shame” that the humanitarian flotilla mission to end Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza “has to exist.”

“This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fuelled by our own government, our institutions, our media, and companies. It is our responsibility to end that complicity. We are doing the bare minimum,” Thunberg stated.

She stressed that she would “never comprehend how humans can be so evil,” adding “That you would deliberately starve millions of people living trapped under an illegal siege as a continuation of decades of oppression and apartheid.”

Released in Stages

On Saturday, the first group of activists was released, with 137 deported to Turkiye. More were released on Sunday to their home countries, including Italy and Spain.

South Africa announced on Monday that its detained citizens, including the grandson of Nelson Mandela, were scheduled for release on Tuesday.

Legal Access Restricted

The Adalah legal resource center, based in Israel, said in a statement that the activists confirmed to the lawyers that widespread assaults and violence occurred during their transfer from the port to the prison and in the first days of their detention.

Lubna Tuma, an attorney with Adalah, said in an update on Monday that Israel “withheld information systematically from the beginning of the interception” in international waters.

She said that even before the deportation hearings, the organization “sent letters that we will be representing all the activists.”

However, she added, Israel began the hearings without their legal presence.

“And that means that many activists got into the administrative hearing without a legal counsel, even in the prison when the activists moved to the IPS, the Israeli Prison Services Authority,” Tuma continued.

Verbal and Physical Humiliation

The attorney cited testimonies from activists that include “verbal humiliations, laughing in front of their faces, calling them names. They were forced to sit on their knees and elbows, forehead on the ground, for more than one hour under the sun.”

She also said activists were forced to stay in small rooms of three metres, 10 or 15 activists per room.

“It was very crowded. They couldn’t move. And all of that happened while they were handcuffed from behind. So imagine five hours, your hands on behind. You can’t speak. You can’t say anything. You can’t move more than one hour under the sun. And this position where knees and elbows (are) on the ground,” the attorney stated.

Tuma said they also received testimonies that two activists, Ana Maria from Spain and Thunberg, were separated from the others and forced to have pictures taken with the Israeli flag “as an act of humiliation.”

Activists also said that some were denied their medication, while others reported physical abuse, such as being kicked in the head. Women in particular, “felt violated and they had to protect each other.”

Hunger Strikes

With some detained activists having embarked on a hunger strike, the exact number of those still in Israeli detention is not clear.

Those still to be released is Brazilian activist Thiago Avila who was also detained in a previous sea mission to Gaza, the Madleen, in June this year.

The Global Sumud Flotilla aimed to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and challenge Israel’s blockade of the enclave, which it has maintained for almost 18 years.

Since October 2023, Israel’s ongoing military operation has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza – most of them women and children – and injured over 169,000 more.