Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist who has spent the better part of a decade at the center of global debates over justice and survival, turned her attention squarely to the Middle East this week. Speaking from an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, Thunberg accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of carrying out what she called “genocidal intent” against Palestinians.

Her remarks, shared in video clips circulating online, came as part of a broader message of solidarity with Palestinians under siege. “I am absolutely disgusted and appalled to live in a world where people in power betray Palestinians every day,” Thunberg said. “So many can accept the extreme injustice and the mass slaughtering of people without doing anything.”

Thunberg has previously linked the climate crisis to issues of inequality and human rights, but her remarks about Gaza framed the war not as a conflict between states but as a moral failure of the international community. “Israel has been clear from the beginning that this is their intent,” she said. “They have genocidal intent that they want to take over the Gaza Strip. That is a war crime.”

The flotilla, organized by international activists, aims to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. Thunberg acknowledged the risks of the current flotilla, but insisted they were minor compared to what Palestinians face daily. “Any risk we could be subjected to is nothing to what Palestinians are risking every day just trying to survive,” she said, singling out Palestinian journalists as “extremely brave” for documenting the war at great personal cost.

Her critique extended beyond Israel to the global institutions she said had failed to protect Palestinians. “This is also an attack on humanity, on international law, on every sense of humanity we have left,” Thunberg said. “History keeps repeating itself because the world has not listened.”

The remarks come at a moment of widening rifts over the war in Gaza. Netanyahu has rejected accusations of war crimes and insists Israel is fighting Hamas, not Palestinians as a people. But international protests, including among younger activists who grew up idolizing Thunberg’s climate strikes, are increasingly framing the war as a test of global conscience.

Thunberg ended her message with a call to action: “We are hearing the calls from Palestinians who are urging the people of the world to step up to end our complicity. We are doing a very small part of that, the bare minimum, to uphold international law and human rights.”