Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland’s foreign ministry has revealed that three Polish citizens who were among the activists detained by Israeli forces on a flotilla seeking to bring aid to Gaza have refused voluntary deportation but should nevertheless “return to their homeland in the coming days”.
Meanwhile, one of the detained Poles, Nina Ptak, has gone on a hunger strike in solidarity with “imprisoned and tortured Palestinians”.
Konsul RP właśnie zakończył widzenie z naszymi obywatelami zatrzymanymi w Izraelu.
Mimo, że odmówili dobrowolnego wyjazdu, powinni w najbliższych dniach wrócić na łono ojczyzny.
Jeszcze raz apeluję o przestrzeganie przestróg @MSZ_RP.— Radosław Sikorski 🇵🇱🇪🇺 (@sikorskiradek) October 5, 2025
Last week, Israel detained more than 470 people from 47 countries and seized 42 boats that were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), which had been sailing across the Mediterranean towards Gaza, hoping to break Israel’s blockade of the territory and deliver aid.
Among those detained were a group of Polish activists. On Friday, Poland’s foreign ministry announced that a Polish consul in Israel had met with the Polish detainees and found them to be “safe and healthy”. They were provided with access “to legal and medical assistance”, added the ministry.
It noted that “Israel is keen to deport all those detained as soon as possible, but this requires the consent of the detainees themselves”. However, the three Poles refused to sign such a document and “they will now await trial before an Israeli court”.
On Sunday, Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, announced on social media that the Polish consul had again met with the Polish detainees. “Although they refused voluntary departure, they should return to their homeland in the coming days,” he added.
However, Sikorski also repeated his appeal for Poles to heed the foreign ministry’s warnings not to attempt to enter Gaza. Last week, a deputy foreign minister and presidential spokesman criticised the flotilla, calling it a “propaganda” exercise rather than a genuine humanitarian mission.
Among those detained are Franciszek Sterczewski, a Polish MP; Nina Ptak, head of the Nomada Association, a Polish NGO supporting refugees and migrants; and Omar Faris, a Palestinian with Polish citizenship who leads the Socio-Cultural Association of Polish Palestinians.
Initially, Ewa Jasiewicz, a journalist and author who has written extensively about Gaza and who holds British citizenship, was detained as part of the Polish group. However, she has since been transported to Turkey as Israel begins the process of deporting activists from numerous countries.
Four Poles, one of them an MP, were among those detained by Israeli forces who boarded boats in a flotilla seeking to bring aid to Gaza.
Officials from Poland's foreign ministry and president's office have criticised the flotilla as a "propaganda" mission https://t.co/Ion6omrFiG
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 2, 2025
Meanwhile, in a series of social media posts during the weekend, the Polish branch of Global Movement for Gaza announced that Ptak had been on hunger strike since her detention in in Ktzi’ot prison, which the organisation said is “infamous for using torture and sexual violence”.
“This is a protest against genocide and unlawful abduction from international waters”, as well as “in solidarity with Palestinians who are being unlawfully imprisoned and tortured in the same prison,” the organisation wrote.
It also confirmed that the Polish detainees had “refused to sign deportation documents that would attest they had illegally found themselves in the Zionist state” and criticised the Polish government for not responding to Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir calling the detainees “terrorists”.
“We demand decisive action against Israel. We demand sanctions, an embargo, and that governments do everything in their power, not only ‘consular assistance’,” wrote the organisation.
Aktualności Global Movement to Gaza.
04 października 2025. pic.twitter.com/3vyuuXqxph
— Global Movement To Gaza Poland (@GMTG_Poland) October 4, 2025
Among the hundreds of flotilla participants detained by Israel was environmental activist Greta Thunberg. She has complained of mistreatment while being held in arrest, including a shortage of food and clean water, bedbugs, and being forced to pose for photos while holding Israeli flags, reports the Guardian.
Thunberg was meant to be among dozens from several countries, including French, Italian, Greek and Swedish activists, to be deported from Israel today.
Over the weekend, protesters took to the streets in some European capitals to demonstrate against the interception of the Gaza flotilla and demand decisive actions from governments. Those included demonstrations in some large Polish cities.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Krzysztof Zatycki / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. She is a member of the European Press Prize’s preparatory committee. She was 2022 Fellow at the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at City University of New York. In 2024, she graduated from the Advanced Leadership Programme for Top Talents at the Center for Leadership. She has previously contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy and Duży Format.
