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"Gaza Flotilla Participant Details “Cruelty” of Israeli Abduction at Sea; Two Activists Still Detained

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We get a firsthand account of the violent raid, arrest and detention of members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, after Israeli forces intercepted the humanitarian mission in international waters Thursday. “We were held in a makeshift prison with shipping containers and barbed wire. Many people were subject to aggressive physical force. Of the 56 aid-carrying vessels attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, more than a third were seized by the Israeli military,” recounts flotilla member Hannah Smith. Some flotilla members had to be rescued after one boat was “left sinking,” Smith reports."

https://www.democracynow.org/2026/5/4/global_sumud_flotilla_intercepted

#gaza #palestine #flotilla

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Gaza Flotilla Participant Details “Cruelty” of Israeli Abduction at Sea; Two Activists Still Detained

We get a firsthand account of the violent raid, arrest and detention of members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, after Israeli forces intercepted the humanitarian mission in international waters Thursday. “We were held in a makeshift prison with shipping containers and barbed wire. Many people were subject to aggressive physical force. Of the 56 aid-carrying vessels attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, more than a third were seized by the Israeli military,” recounts flotilla member Hannah Smith. Some flotilla members had to be rescued after one boat was “left sinking,” Smith reports. Two members, Saif Abukeshek of Spain and Thiago Ávila of Brazil, are now being held without charges in an Israeli prison. “It is a favorite tactic of the Israeli regime to try to bully people into silence and submission, to threaten people, and they’ve gotten away with it for decades,” says Rania Batrice, a Palestinian American member of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s communications team. Abukeshek’s wife, Sally Issa, says her husband “started a hunger strike, and he was treated very bad, so bad that all the activists on the boat could hear him screaming.” The Spanish and Brazilian governments have denounced the arrests as “flagrantly illegal” and are demanding their citizens’ release.

Democracy Now!
7:44pmWeb
Show threadRegendans7h ago

2/6

Two members, Saif Abukeshek of Spain and Thiago Ávila of Brazil, are now being held without charges in an Israeli prison. “It is a favorite tactic of the Israeli regime to try to bully people into silence and submission, to threaten people, and they’ve gotten away with it for decades,” says Rania Batrice, a Palestinian American member of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s communications team. Abukeshek’s wife, Sally Issa, says her husband “started a hunger strike, and he was treated very bad, so bad that all the activists on the boat could hear him screaming.” The Spanish and Brazilian governments have denounced the arrests as “flagrantly illegal” and are demanding their citizens’ release.

Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

Show threadRegendans7h ago

3/6

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

Two members of a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla have appeared before an Israeli court after they were abducted from their ships in international waters and brought to Israel for interrogation. On Sunday, the court extended the imprisonment of Spanish national Saif Abukeshek and Brazilian national Thiago Ávila by two days, though authorities have not brought any charges against them. Ávila told his lawyers he’d been subjected to brutality after his abduction, including being, quote, “dragged face-down across the floor and beaten so severely that he passed out twice,” unquote. The beating left him with visible bruises on his face. Both Ávila and Keshek have begun a hunger strike.

Just before the broadcast, Democracy Now! spoke to Keshek’s wife, Sally Issa. She’s in Barcelona, Spain. Keshek is both a Spanish and Swedish citizen.

Show threadRegendans7h ago

4/6

SALLY ISSA: So, my name is Sally. I am Saif Abukeshek’s wife. Saif Abukeshek was on board the Global Sumud Flotilla, who is a mission with the aim to break the illegal siege on the Gaza Strip and deliver humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza.

The Israeli military marine attacked the flotilla outside of the Greek island Crete in international water, and they kidnapped 100 — more than 175 activists, civilians, with nationalities from all over the world, and they kept them hostages and then later freed them to the Greek police. They held, on the other hand, my husband Saif and his comrade Thiago as hostages, and later they took them to Israel against their will.

We have got many testimonies about the interception and how it went. We have got to hear that it was very violent, and the activists were not treated very well. We could see images and pictures from the activists who were freed in Greece, where they had broken noses and broken ribs, and more than 30 people had to go to seek medical help.

Show threadRegendans7h ago

5/6

They also told us how it went to my husband Saif when they were kidnapped on the flotilla. So, it has been very violent, and Saif was put in a isolated cell on the boat. He started a hunger strike, and he was treated very bad, so bad that all the activists on the boat could hear him screaming during the ride to Greece. Now my husband is in Israel. They are questioning him and Thiago. Yesterday, they went to the court, and they got an extension of two days’ interrogation.

And yeah, we are demanding all the governments around the world to interfere and free both Saif and Thiago and to put then a stop on the ongoing genocide and blockade, illegal blockade, of the Gaza Strip.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Sally Issa, the wife of the detained Palestinian activist Saif Abukeshek. He and Thiago Ávila were among an estimated 175 activists forced off their humanitarian aid ships at gunpoint during Israel’s raid on the flotilla as it sailed off the coast of Greece Thursday. All the other activists were taken to a port on the Greek island of Crete.

In a joint statement, the governments of Spain and Brazil wrote, quote, “This flagrantly illegal action by the Israeli authorities outside their jurisdiction constitutes a violation of international law.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez spoke Sunday.

Show threadRegendans7h ago

6/6

PRIME MINISTER PEDRO SÁNCHEZ: [translated] Now that Netanyahu has done this, abducting foreign citizens — one of them is Spanish — and taking him to Israel, I say several things to Prime Minister Netanyahu. The first is that Spain will always protect its citizens. The second is that we will always defend international law. And this is a new violation of international law. And the third is we want the release of the Spanish citizen, who has been illegally abducted by Netanyahu’s government.

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, Middle East Eye reports prosecutors in Italy have opened an investigation into the kidnapping and detention of Thiago Ávila and Saif Abukeshek, who were on board the humanitarian boat that was flying the Italian flag.

For more, we’re joined by two guests. Here in New York, Rania Batrice is with us, a Palestinian American activist, part of the communications team for the Global Sumud Flotilla. And in Crete, Greece, we’re joined by Hannah Smith, a representative of the Global Sumud Flotilla public affairs team, who was on the flotilla when Israeli forces raided the ships.

Read the rest of the video transcript here :

https://www.democracynow.org/2026/5/4/global_sumud_flotilla_intercepted

Gaza Flotilla Participant Details “Cruelty” of Israeli Abduction at Sea; Two Activists Still Detained

We get a firsthand account of the violent raid, arrest and detention of members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, after Israeli forces intercepted the humanitarian mission in international waters Thursday. “We were held in a makeshift prison with shipping containers and barbed wire. Many people were subject to aggressive physical force. Of the 56 aid-carrying vessels attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, more than a third were seized by the Israeli military,” recounts flotilla member Hannah Smith. Some flotilla members had to be rescued after one boat was “left sinking,” Smith reports. Two members, Saif Abukeshek of Spain and Thiago Ávila of Brazil, are now being held without charges in an Israeli prison. “It is a favorite tactic of the Israeli regime to try to bully people into silence and submission, to threaten people, and they’ve gotten away with it for decades,” says Rania Batrice, a Palestinian American member of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s communications team. Abukeshek’s wife, Sally Issa, says her husband “started a hunger strike, and he was treated very bad, so bad that all the activists on the boat could hear him screaming.” The Spanish and Brazilian governments have denounced the arrests as “flagrantly illegal” and are demanding their citizens’ release.

Democracy Now!