A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed their release and an Australian spokesperson for the flotilla said they had touched down in Jordan on Tuesday night.

Crowds of supporters gathered at the Eleftherios Venizelos international airport and chanted “Free free Palestine!” as activists disembarked one by one.

“That this mission has to exist, it’s a shame! It is a shame!” Thunberg told journalists and protesters shortly upon arriving.

“I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment, trust me, but that is not the story.”

Instead, Thunberg urged world leaders and ordinary citizens around the world to end their “complicity” with the “genocide” being carried out against Palestinians in Gaza.

“This action was challenging our extremely violent business as usual,” Thunberg said. 

“We cannot take our eyes away from Gaza.”

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, since the October 7 attacks exactly two years ago.

Thousands of Hamas-led militants attacked army bases, farming communities and a music festival, killing about 1200 people and abducting 251 others.

– Reported with Associated Press