We went 48 hours without food and 36 hours without water, said Ipshita Rajesh, another of the activists.
There were large crowds at Sergels Square and before the press conference could begin, the organizers had to ask people to back up so that it could be carried out.
It took them all night to kidnap us and at dawn before everything was ready, some of us saw Gaza. Gaza did not receive any emergency aid from us, but our message, our love, and our solidarity came through, said activist Irana Wilson.
Threatened to gas
According to Ipshita Rajesh, they went a long time without food and water and were crowded into a small space. She said they were denied important medication and were subjected to abuse.
69 people were packed into a twelve square meter cage under the scorching sun for five hours and they threatened to gas us several times. They threatened to gas us when we were handcuffed and blindfolded on a bus without access to a toilet for at least eight hours.
What we have experienced and witnessed is just scratching the surface of what Palestinians in prisons have to go through.
Greta Thunberg said at the press conference that she does not want to talk about what she herself has been subjected to – because she does not want it to result in headlines.
I was just released from an Israeli torture prison in the desert. I do not know what we should say because no matter what we say, there is nothing that works – there is nothing that leads to action from our governments.
However, she gave examples of how they were treated.
We had no access to drinking water, the water was brown and people got sick from it. The soldiers threw full water bottles into the trash cans in front of us and laughed. Employees from the Swedish consulate saw this and we asked them to stay, otherwise the soldiers would hit us. They left anyway, she says.
Deported
Thunberg traveled with several other Swedish activists with the international organization Global Sumud Flotilla, which tried to reach Gaza by sea to deliver supplies and break the Israeli blockade of the war-torn area.
The convoy they were traveling in was stopped by the Israeli military on international waters and the activists were taken to the desert prison Ketziot.
When asked whether the activists will try to sail to Gaza again, Greta Thunberg replies:
The question should not be whether we will do it again. The question should be asked to those in power whether they will continue to allow it to be this way. No one wants to be an activist, we want to put an end to the genocide, occupation, and injustices. But if it is required: absolutely, without blinking.
Facts: Global Sumud Flotilla
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The Gaza convoy Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) consisted of around 40 boats with several hundred activists, journalists, and parliamentarians on board. Nine Swedes, including climate activist Greta Thunberg and Member of Parliament Lorena Delgado Varas (formerly V), were on the trip, which began in Barcelona at the end of August.
The convoy's goal was to break Israel's blockade of Gaza and deliver emergency aid. When the ships approached the Gaza Strip on the evening of October 1, the Israeli navy began boarding the boats, which were then on international waters.
Over 400 people have been detained and taken to Israel. Many of them to the Ketziot prison in the Negev desert. Of the more than 150 activists who have so far been deported from the country, many testify to poor conditions and abuses and that they have not been allowed to meet with legal representatives.
Greta Thunberg and other activists were also stopped by Israel on international waters, west of Gaza, in June. They were then taken into Israeli custody and later sent home.
