Archiv: 01-10-2025 Israeli military hijacks Global Sumud Flotilla vessels in international waters / hijacking takes over two days / crews abducted


13.10.2025 - 14:16 [ Abna.24 ]

Spanish Activist Deported After Coerced Confession in Israeli Prison

Her lawyer told The Times of Israel that Cervilla had to plead guilty in order to return home, emphasizing that she acted in self-defense and that the prison guard had been violent toward her and her friend.

The lawyer also revealed that Israeli police possess video footage of the incident, which allegedly shows the guard’s aggressive behavior toward Cervilla and her companion.

During a court hearing, Cervilla testified that she was subjected to physical abuse by prison guards while in custody.

“They beat me, pushed us repeatedly,” she told the court. “Contrary to the official account, they attacked my friend, and I tried to protect her. When I reached her, they grabbed my head and knocked off my glasses. After being shoved from all directions, I got up from the floor,” Cervilla recounted.

09.10.2025 - 23:51 [ Middle East Eye ]

Polish activists return from Gaza flotilla, denounce Israeli ‘brutality’ and Warsaw’s inaction

The delegation, arriving on a flight from Athens, included ruling Civic Platform (PO) lawmaker Franciszek Sterczewski, activists Omar Faris and Nina Ptak, and journalist Ewa Jasiewicz. Faris, Ptak, and Sterczewski were deported to Greece on Monday, while Jasiewicz had left Israel earlier.

Sterczewski sharply criticized both Israel and Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski.(…)

“They treated us absolutely brutally. For several hours, I’m 73 years old, they tied my hands behind my back and put me on rocks,” Faris said.

He added that during interrogation in an Israeli prison, the activists were questioned about possible links to Hamas. “Our problem is the occupation, which began 42 years before the founding of Hamas,” he said. “You won’t be able to kill us. And we don’t want to kill you either. We want a solution like in South Africa — a democratic state for all, regardless of religion.”

08.10.2025 - 18:31 [ DawnNews English / Youtube ]

Greta Thunberg Alleges Torture During Detention in Israeli Prison After Gaza Flotilla Arrest

Thunberg told a news conference in Stockholm that she and others were „kidnapped and tortured“ by the Israeli military.

She declined to elaborate, adding when pressed that she didn‘t get clean water and that other detainees were deprived of critical medication.

Israel‘s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment but has repeatedly denied mistreating the detainees.

08.10.2025 - 17:20 [ Zeteo ]

EXCLUSIVE: Freed Flotilla Activist David Adler Details His ‘Violent Abduction’ by Israel

Watch the full conversation above or on YouTube to also hear David discuss his treatment as a Jewish activist receiving “special interrogation by Ben-Gvir” and the US’s lack of response to his illegal detention.

08.10.2025 - 17:15 [ David Adler / Jacobin ]

I Spent Five Days in Israel’s Desert Prison

People were taken individually out of their cells and regularly beaten, handcuffed, ankle-cuffed, and left in solitary confinement. This happened many times over many days. We were denied the most basic things, like critical access to insulin for diabetic detainees that were part of the flotilla. In short, we were treated as terrorists, just as national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had promised.

From the first moment that we stepped onto that tarmac after interception, we were violently forced onto our knees into positions of submission. The two Jews of the flotilla were taken by the rear and ripped from the group for a photo op with Ben-Gvir — staring at the flag of the State of Israel and taunted by his goons. Thus began a five-day nightmare of serial and systematic violation of our most basic rights. Reports varied from the different cellblocks. But one report that is consistent is that we were all denied food and water. At all times, we were denied access to medicine based on the whims of individual officers working shifts.

(…)

Of course, all of this pales in comparison to the treatment that Palestinians endure every single day. Eleven thousand of them are in indefinite detention at the moment, including in the same internment camp where we were held as terrorists by Israel.

08.10.2025 - 00:00 [ Freedom Flotilla Coalition ]

FFC and Thousand Madleens Launch Next Wave of Boats to Gaza

(September 27, 2025)

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and Thousand Madleens to Gaza (TMTG) will launch a flotilla of 10 boats on Saturday, 27 September 2025 from San Giovanni Li Cuti harbour, Catania, Sicily, Italy.

(…)

This wave of boats follows the Madleen, Handala, and the dozens of boats that the FFC has sailed over the past 15 years, as well as the vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla — all of which the Israeli military has repeatedly attacked. Together, these civilian missions signal that the demand to end Israel’s blockade cannot be silenced or deterred.

“Every boat we launch is a direct challenge to the blockade and a declaration of solidarity. We sail not as charity, but as part of the global struggle to end apartheid and affirm the right of the Palestinian people to live free.” Joint statement from FFC and TMTG.

07.10.2025 - 23:58 [ Al Jazeera ]

Six activists from Gaza aid flotilla remain in Israeli detention

“Six participants who were aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, unlawfully intercepted and detained on their way to Gaza amid the ongoing genocide, remain in Israeli detention,” a statement said.

Lawyers submitted requests to Israeli authorities to visit the detainees on Wednesday if they remain in custody. Israeli media earlier reported that authorities extended the detention of Spanish activist Reyes Rigo Cervilla for one week.

07.10.2025 - 02:26 [ Common Dreams ]

Thunberg Confirms Abuse by Israeli Abductors, But Urges World to Focus on Gaza Genocide

“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,” Thunberg said during a press conference at Athens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport in Greece, where she and other flotilla participants released by Israel were greeted by a cheering crowd.

“What happened here is that Israel, while continuing to worsen and escalate their genocide and mass destruction with genocidal intent, attempting to erase an entire population, an entire nation in front of our very eyes, they once again violated international law by preventing humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza while people are being starved,” she continued.

“This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fueled by our own governments, our institutions, our media, and companies. It is our responsibility to end that complicity… to use our privileges, our platforms, to take a stance against this, that is in every way unjustifiable,” Thunberg asserted.

“I will never, ever comprehend how humans can be so evil that you would deliberately starve millions of people living trapped under an illegal siege as a continuation of decades and decades of suffocating oppression, apartheid, occupation,” she added.

07.10.2025 - 02:16 [ DRM News / Youtube ]

LIVE: Greta Thunberg Arrives in Greece After Gaza Flotilla Detention in Israel

Streamed live 11 hours ago #GretaThunberg #GazaFlotilla #AthensArrival

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, along with 27 Greek nationals and over 70 international deportees from the intercepted Global Sumud Flotilla, arrives in Athens on a special flight from Israel. Detained during the humanitarian aid mission to Gaza, they return amid global outcry over the blockade and mistreatment allegations. DRM News provides live coverage of the airport arrival, statements, and reactions to the ongoing crisis.

07.10.2025 - 01:31 [ Middle East Eye ]

US and UK ‚immensely let down‘ families of detained Gaza flotilla activists

The families of British and American Global Sumud Flotilla activists illegally detained by Israel have told Middle East Eye that the US and UK governments have failed to properly represent their citizens.

Clare Azzougarh, the daughter of Malcolm Ducker, a 72-year-old British air force veteran who captained a boat on the flotilla and is being held in Ketziot prison, said her family feels “immensely let down by the British government in so many ways”.

Laura Adler, the sister of David Adler, a Jewish-American member of the flotilla and co-general coordinator of the Progressive International, told MEE the response of the US government had made her realise that “not everyone is deemed to be equally American”.

“I didn’t realise how non-responsive and passive the US government would be,” Laura Adler said.

06.10.2025 - 02:22 [ CNN ]

Three Israeli anti-war activists who tried to break through Gaza border freed from jail

Itamar Greenberg, Roman Levin and Roy Elani were arrested and detained in Beersheba District Court after crossing briefly into the Gaza border on Friday.

The activists are part of a small but loud group of Israelis who have decried their country’s military actions in Gaza and who have marched toward the Gaza fence for weeks in solidarity with the Sumud Flotilla, aiming “to break the siege on Gaza.”

06.10.2025 - 02:16 [ Andrey X / X ]

We broke into Gaza

(October 3, 2025)

06.10.2025 - 01:25 [ Global Sumud Flotilla ]

ISRAEL‘S CRIMES AGAINST THE GLOBAL SUMUD FLOTILLA HUMANITARIAN ACTIVISTS

The List of Crimes Committed by Israel:

1.Illegal Interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla. Violation of customary norms of international law as accepted under Articles 19, 88 and 301 of UNCLOS, which requires that states respect the peaceful and safe passage of vessels. Israel does not have the right to intercept civilian vessels according to UNCLOS Article 110 with none of the exceptions under Article 110 (a) – (e) having been engaged.

2. Abduction and arbitrary arrest of participants. Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Prohibition of arbitrary arrests. The activists were not combatants or a military threat. The activists are legitimate citizens participating in a humanitarian mission, neither are they irregular migrants attempting to enter Israel territory contrary to Israeli immigrations laws.

3. Forced transfer to prisons in Israel. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: Prohibition of the transfer of civilians from occupied territory. This rule extends to the protection of persons arrested at sea in the context of an armed conflict.

4. Physical violence and inhuman treatment by the use of water cannons against peaceful civilians on high sea contrary to Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions: Prohibition of violence against civilians. Article 5: Prohibition of torture and cruel treatment.

5. Defaming peaceful citizens is a form of illegal stigmatization. Insults, Defamation, and the Slanderous Labeling of „Terrorists“: Right to Dignity (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 1).

6. Unlawful processing of activists as „illegal immigrants“ before the Immigration Authority, court hearings without the presence of lawyers, and coercion into signing a document stating that the participants entered Israel illegally: Violation of the right to a fair trial, liberty, and Security under Article 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

7. Repeated drone attacks by Israel against the Flotilla. Act of aggression against the flag and citizen states, including the illegal use of force, and as a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome statute and violation of 2(4) of the UN Charter as well as infringement of the human rights of the people onboard.

8. Attack of the Vessels and seizure thereof. On the High Seas, the law applying on each ship is the domestic law of its flag state. An attack by an Israeli military warship on a vessel on the High Seas is an attack and infringement of the sovereignty of the flag state. These acts of illegal possession of vessels or abduction of crew on the High Seas can be pursued by each flag state and constitutes a crime within their domestic jurisdiction.

9. Forcibly intercepting and seizing a civilian vessel carrying humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza. Clear reflection of Israel’s unlawful starvation policy, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law and listed as a war crime under Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute. The Israeli blockade over Gaza is unlawful in light of Paragraph 102 of the San Remo Manual, which stipulates the illegality of a blockade if it ‘has the sole purpose of starving the civilian population or denying it other objects essential for its survival’. Israel’s unlawful blockade has been condemned numerous times by the UN bodies and experts, most recently by the UN Commission of Inquiry in August 2025 which concluded that Isreal has committed genocide in Gaza, including by depriving the Palestinian group of objects indispensable for their survival.

06.10.2025 - 01:12 [ Al Jazeera ]

More Gaza flotilla activists allege mistreatment in Israeli detention

Separately, Malaysian sisters and singers-actors Heliza Helmi and Hazwani Helmi, also described “brutal” and “cruel” treatment when detained by Israeli forces.

“Can you imagine we drank from the toilet water? Some people were very, very sick, but they [the Israelis] said: ‘Are they dead? If not, then that’s not my problem,‘” Hazwani told Anadolu news agency after landing in Istanbul on Saturday. “They are very, very cruel people.”

Heliza also described going without food for days. “I ate on October 1. Today is my first meal,” she said on Saturday. “So for three days, I did not eat – only drank from the toilet.”

06.10.2025 - 00:54 [ UnioneSarda.it ]

Flotilla activists, including Emanuela Pala, have arrived in Italy: „They‘re being treated like terrorists.“

Saverio Tommasi , journalist for Fanpage: „We were kidnapped by an armed gang in international waters. They took away everyone‘s medicine: heart patients, asthmatics, and an 86-year-old man whose asthma canister was taken away . He felt ill, as did the other people. And despite requests, banging loudly on the cells, a doctor was never sent. The water was from the bathroom tap, warm and rancid. The food was scarce .“

„Personally,“ Tommasi adds, „they literally took my wedding rings away from me: I had to argue with the judge, and only thanks to that was they returned to me when I arrived in Istanbul by plane. I imagine the aid will all have sunk along with the boats.“

Greta Thumberg? „We saw her inside and also at the port: her arms were tied and an Israeli flag was nearby, mocking her, like the verbal and psychological abuse they always used, to ridicule, belittle, and laugh at times when there was nothing to laugh about.“

06.10.2025 - 00:43 [ Notizie.it ]

Global Sumud Flotilla: 18 Italians returned to Rome: „Treated like terrorists“

Others 15 Italians who refused to sign the voluntary release Instead, they will have to await expulsion through judicial proceedings, expected in the coming days.

(…(

Paolo Romano, regional councillor of the Lombardy Democratic Party and one of the 26 Italians expelled from Israel, said at the Istanbul airport, where he arrived from Tel Aviv before returning to Italy, that they had been treated like animals. “They made us kneel face down. And if we moved, they beat usThey laughed at us, insulted us, and beat us. They used both psychological and physical violence.”, he added.

Other activists, such as Cesare Tofani and Paolo De Montis, emphasized that the greatest difficulties stem from the accumulation of stress during detention and transfers, comparing their experience to the daily challenges faced by Palestinians in the territory. Tofani explained: “we were treated very badly… They treated us like they treat terrorists, the Palestinians.“ while De Montis explained:

„There were 15 women in a cell for four; there were 10 of us in a cell for seven, with only one roll of toilet paper, no water, and with our food eaten on the floor.“

05.10.2025 - 18:04 [ Global Sumud Flotilla / Telegram ]

Update from Adalah Illegal Hearings and Mistreatment of GSF Detainees at Ktzi‘ot Prison

4 October 2025 – 15:50 GMT+3

Yesterday, Friday 3 October, Adalah lawyers met with approximately 80 flotilla participants during hearings before the tribunal reviewing detention orders.

Around 200 hearings were held late Thursday night and into Friday morning, without any prior notice to Adalah’s lawyers and without legal defenders for the flotilla participants present. Hearings are continuing today, and our lawyers are currently at Ktzi‘ot Prison where hundreds of flotilla participants are currently being held.

05.10.2025 - 16:03 [ Jerusalem Post ]

Ben-Gvir: Thunberg and flotilla activists ‚deserve conditions of terrorists‘ in prison

Thunberg herself remains in Israeli custody.

05.10.2025 - 15:14 [ Left Voice ]

2 Million People Paralyze Italy in a General Strike for Gaza and the Flotilla

Italian dockworkers and the Union of Base Trade Unions (USB) vowed that they would respond with strikes and class struggle in the event of an attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla, and they delivered. On October 3, Italy exploded in a day of “wildcat” strike actions across many sectors.

Despite intimidation from the authorities, who declared the strike illegal and deployed heavy repressive operations, the USB and the dockworkers managed to get Italian workers across sectors to stop and take to the streets, forcing the bureaucracy of the main labor union (CGIL) to call for a strike and demonstrations. Following the important day of struggle on September 22, over two million workers demonstrated and walked off the streets on Friday, especially in the metalworking, logistics, and education sectors.

05.10.2025 - 15:10 [ Associated Press ]

2 million rally in Italy for Gaza as general strike halts key services

According to the CGIL union, 300,000 people marched through the streets of Rome alone, while the national average participation in the general strike stood at around 60%, halting all the main services in key sectors including transportation and schools.

05.10.2025 - 15:03 [ CNBC-TV18 / Youtube ]

Rome Protest: Pressure Mounts on Giorgia Meloni’s Government as Gaza Protests Paralyse Italy | N18G

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

04.10.2025 - 23:48 [ Reuters ]

Activists allege Greta Thunberg mistreated as flotilla detainees arrive in Turkey

Two of them, Hazwani Helmi, a Malaysian citizen, and Windfield Beaver, an American citizen, told Reuters at the airport that they had witnessed Thunberg being mistreated, saying she was shoved and forced to wear an Israeli flag.
„It was a disaster. They treated us like animals,“ said Helmi, 28, adding that detainees were not provided with clean food or water and that medication and belongings were confiscated.

04.10.2025 - 21:23 [ Suppressed News. / X ]

BREAKING: Turkish activist and Sumud Flotilla participant Ersin Celik: “They [Israelis] dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,”

(video)

04.10.2025 - 21:10 [ theGuardian.com ]

Israel accused of detaining Greta Thunberg in infested cell and making her hold flags

The allegation was corroborated by at least two other members of the flotilla who had been detained by Israeli forces and released on Saturday.

“They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,” the Turkish activist ErsinÇelik, a participant in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu news agency.

Lorenzo D’Agostino
, a journalist and another flotilla participant, said after returning to Istanbul that Thunberg was “wrapped in the Israeli flag and paraded like a trophy” – a scene described with disbelief and anger by those who witnessed it.

04.10.2025 - 21:08 [ Sulaiman Ahmed / X ]

JUST IN: A Turkish activist from the Sumud Flotilla speaks out:

Israelis prevented us from having medicine, they only gave us water after 32 hours. We barely had any food.

We were woken up at 3 in the morning with dogs and snipers walking into our rooms, they woke us up every 2 hours to prevent us from sleeping.

They did this to us, innocent citizens, it could only let us imagine what they do to Palestinians.

04.10.2025 - 20:49 [ DRM News / Youtube ]

LIVE: Gaza Aid Flotilla Activists Arrive in Turkey After Israel Detention

Thirty-six Turkish nationals and international activists from the intercepted Global Sumud Flotilla, including prominent figures like Greta Thunberg, arrive in Istanbul on a special flight after detention by Israeli forces.

03.10.2025 - 20:54 [ Junge Welt ]

Italien macht ernst

Als Reaktion auf die gewaltsame Kaperung der Gaza-Hilfsflotte »Global Sumud Flotilla« durch das israelische Militär sind am Freitag überall in Italien Hunderttausende auf die Straßen gegangen. Allein in der Hauptstadt Rom waren es nach Angaben der Organisatoren 300.000 Menschen. In mehreren Städten blockierten Demonstranten Bahnhöfe und Autobahnen – und stießen dabei auf Zustimmung. So etwa in Brescia, wo Autofahrer in Solidarität hupten und applaudierten.

03.10.2025 - 20:26 [ Dawn News English / Youtube ]

WATCH: Italian MPs on Board Intercepted Gaza Flotilla Return from Israel | Dawn News English

Italian members of parliament returned from Israel on Friday (October 3) after Israeli forces intercepted a Gaza-bound aid flotilla which they were aboard.

The four parliamentarians landed outside of Rome at Fiumicino airport on a flight from Tel Aviv after they were detained attempting to challenge Israel‘s naval blockade.

Senator Marco Croatti said he was concerned for the remaining Italians in Israeli detention, and Member of European Parliament Benedetta Scuderi added that there had been „violations“ which they will discuss on Saturday (October 4).

03.10.2025 - 20:07 [ Anadolu ]

Italy paralyzed by general strike observed in solidarity with Gaza flotilla

Nationwide demonstrations paralyze ports, railways and highways as unions, students and officials rally in solidarity with Gaza and Global Sumud Flotilla

03.10.2025 - 19:19 [ Reuters ]

Italians take to the streets for Gaza flotilla general strike

Hundreds of thousands of Italians took to the streets across the country on Friday, as part of a day-long general strike called by unions in support of an aid flotilla carrying food to Gaza that was intercepted by Israel this week.

03.10.2025 - 12:47 [ Reuters / Youtube ]

Global protests after Israel intercepts Gaza aid flotilla | REUTERS

Israel faced international condemnation and protests after its military intercepted almost all of about 40 boats in a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza and took captive more than 450 foreign activists, including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg.

03.10.2025 - 12:37 [ LaVanguardia / Youtube ]

DIRECTO: Manifestantes se reúnen en Barcelona en apoyo a la Flotilla Global Sumud

Streamed live 16 hours ago

03.10.2025 - 12:14 [ Guardian News / Youtube ]

Moment IDF soldiers board Gaza aid flotilla vessels

(October 2, 2025)

The Global Sumud Flotilla reported that more than 200 activists were onboard the 20 boats intercepted by the Israeli military as of Thursday morning.