A SCOTTISH activist who took part in the Global Sumud Flotilla has been deported by Israel.
Margaret Pacetta, 70, from Glasgow, is the first of four Scots to be released.
She was one of nine UK nationals to be deported on Saturday.
Pacetta arrived in Istanbul Airport on Saturday afternoon along with 136 other activists who were part of the flotilla, which was sailing to Gaza in the hopes of delivering much-needed humanitarian aid.
The 9 British Global Sumud Flotilla participants deported by Israel:
- Margaret Ann Pacetta
- Kieran Andrieu
- Sarah Wilkinson
- Hussain Sijad
- Ewa Maria Jasiewicz
- Husamettin Eyupoglu
- Aaron White
- Francis Jane Cumings
Pacetta has been involved in the pro-Palestine movement for more than two decades, helping to run the Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign stall on Buchanan Street every weekend.
She has a lifetime ban from Israel as a result of her activism, and was once shot in the West Bank after Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd with rubber bullets.
She was travelling on the Omar Al Mokhtar Flotilla along with Yvonne Ridley , a journalist and founding member of the Alba Party based in Scotland.
The Omar Al Mokhtar set sail from Libya and eventually joined the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Overnight on Wednesday, Israeli forces intercepted the convoy in international waters , detaining nearly 500 people and taking them to Israel, where they have been imprisoned while awaiting deportation.
The National told earlier on Saturday how Ridley is being subject to "aggressive" and "intimidating" treatment while being held in Israeli prison, while she has also gone on hunger strike in protest.
After landing in Istanbul, Pacetta said her experience on the flotilla had been "fantastic" and "brilliant".
But she also spoke of her "awful" experience inside the notorious Ketziot prison, located in the Negev desert in southern Israel, where human rights abuses have been well documented.
🚨 Margaret Pacetta is the first Scottish activist taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla to be deported by Israel She's arrived in Istanbul & is in good spirits, but describes her 'awful' prison experience with no food or water & an officer slamming a door on her broken leg👇 pic.twitter.com/Bj6XpWs1Ll
— Lucy Jackson (@LucyAJackson_) October 4, 2025
She claimed an Israeli officer slammed a metal door on her despite knowing she had a broken leg.
She said: "That prison was awful, the Negev. No food, no water.
"My broken leg, the girl said to me, 'oh, what happened to your leg?'. I said it's broke, and she slammed a metal door on it and went, 'sorry'. Horrible, horrible."
A report published last year by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, titled "Welcome to Hell", highlighted the cases of 12 Palestinians held at the Ketziot prison, citing a lack of food and water, severe beatings and incidents of sexual abuse.
Far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was filmed visiting the jail on Friday, where he had repeatedly said the flotilla activists should be treated as "terrorists" and called for them to be imprisoned for "a few months [...] so that they get used to the smell of the terrorist wing".
While Pacetta prepares to head back to the UK, there are three other Scots who are still being held by Israel – Ridley, Sid Khan and Jim Hickey.
It is understood all activists are being held in the Ketziot prison. Hickey has not yet met with British consul officals, while Khan's condition is currently unknown.
The Foreign Office has been contacted for comment.
