Greta: 'This is nothing compared to what Palestine is facing'

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca P. Albanese, and Swedish environmental activist, Greta Thunberg, speak about reported attack on Flotilla.

Thunberg said on Tuesday (September 23) that symbolic gestures like the recognition of the state of Palestine would "lead nowhere unless they are accompanied by real action",  as she sailed aboard a humanitarian flotilla heading to Gaza.

"Under international law, states have a legal duty to act not only to speak up, but do everything in their power to stop it, ending arms transfers, ending complicity and applying real pressure," she told Reuters in an interview.

France, Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal have all recognised a Palestinian state in the past two days, as dozens of world leaders gathered at the United Nations ahead of this week's General Assembly. 

The Sumud flotilla meanwhile was located south of Greece at the time of the interview, "every day getting closer to Gaza," said Thunberg.

The flotilla had left Barcelona on August 31, before stopping in Tunisia, when on September 8 one of its main boats was struck by a drone at a port.

Thunberg said the flotilla had been monitored by drones daily since then. "No risks that we could take could even come close to the risks the Palestinians are facing every day," she said.

In June 2025, the Swedish campaigner tried unsuccessfully to break Israel's longstanding naval blockade of Gaza by sailing to the territory with other activists. Israeli forces seized their small aid ship and they were deported from Israel.