Greta Thunberg says it is kept in a “infected with plow” cell and without enough water and food, in Israeli detention.

The Greta Thunberg Environmental activist told the Swedish authorities that she undergone a harsh treatment in Israeli detention, after being arrested and removed from a fleet carrying aid to Gaza, according to a correspondence consulted by The Guardian.

According to correspondence, another prisoner reported that Israeli forces would have photographed Greta Thunberg while she was forced to hold some flags, whose identity is not known.

In an e-mail sent by the Swedish Foreign Ministry to Greta Thunberg close to The Guardian, an official who visited the activist in prison reported that she said she was detained in a cell infested with flush and did not receive enough food and water.

“The embassy managed to meet Greta,” the message shows. “She said she was suffering from dehydration. She received insufficient amounts of water and food. She also said that her skin irritations have appeared, which she suspects to be caused by flush. She spoke about a harsh treatment and said she was forced to stay long on hard surfaces.”

“Another prisoner would have told another embassy that she saw Greta Thunberg being forced to hold flags while she was photographed. She asked if the respective images were distributed,” added the Swedish Foreign Ministry official.

The Israeli army intercepted the fleet with humanitarian help that wanted to break the blockade on the Gaza strip

Thunberg is among the 437 activists, parliamentarians and lawyers who are part of Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), a coalition consisting of over 40 ships with humanitarian aid, whose purpose was to break the maritime block imposed by Israel on the 16 -year -old Gaza strip.

On Thursday night on Friday, Israeli forces intercepted all the boats and arrested all the crew members. Most are detained in Ketziot, also known as ANSar III, a maximum security prison in the Negev Desert, used mainly for retaining Palestinian prisoners accused of Israel in militant or terrorist activities.

In the past, the activists detained by Israel were not criminally prosecuted, their presence being treated as a matter of immigration.

According to the lawyers of the Adalah non -governmental organization, the rights of the crew members were “systematically violated”. They reported that the activists were denied access to water, sanitary conditions, drugs and the possibility to contact their lawyers immediately, “in a clear violation of fundamental rights to a fair trial, impartiality and legal assistance.”

The Italian legal team representing the Flotila confirmed that the detained persons were left “hours without food or water – until late at night”, except “a pack of chips offered to Greek and shown to the rooms”. Lawyers also reported cases of verbal and physical abuse.

During a visit to Ashdod on Thursday night, the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, representative of the far-right wing, was filmed calling “terrorists”, while standing in front of them.

“These are the terrorists of the fleet,” he said, speaking in Hebrew and pointing to the dozens of people on foot. His spokesman confirmed that the images were filmed on Thursday night in Ashdod.

Some activists can be heard shouting: “Release Palestine.”

Ben-Gvir previously asked for activists to be imprisoned, not deported.

After their arrest, the legal team of the fleet expressed concern about the treatment to which the crew members could be subjected, especially those who have been previously detained by the Israeli authorities following attempts to break the naval block on Gaza. It is the second time that Greta Thunberg is arrested along with other fleet members, after a similar attempt earlier this year, which ended with the arrest and deportation of activists.

Baptiste André, a French doctor who was on one of the fleet ships in June, told journalists, on returning to France, that he was a witness to how the Israeli border agents mocked and deliberately died the passengers, especially Greta Thunberg.

The Swedish official mentioned, in the quoted e-mail, that Thunberg was asked by the Israeli authorities to sign a document.

“She said she wasn't sure what that document means and she didn't want to sign anything she didn't understand,” the message said. The representative of the Swedish Foreign Ministry said that Thunberg had access to legal assistance.

The Adalah organization explained, in a previous statement, that, although the Israeli authorities have records with the people who participated in the humanitarian fleets, activists-including Thunberg-are usually treated as the participants for the first time, being subjected to a short and subsequently deported detention.

The Guardian contacted the Israeli Penitentiary, the Israeli army (IDF) and the Israeli Foreign Army, but none of the institutions has, for now, offered a response to the comment request.