(2 June 2026 22:27 BST)
US forces fired a missile at a ship that was attempting to sail to an Iranian port in violation of an American blockade, disabling the vessel, the US military said on Tuesday.
The Botswana-flagged M/T Lexie – an unladen oil tanker – „ignored repeated warnings“ over a 24-hour period, and an American warplane „ultimately disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship‘s engine room“, the US military‘s Central Command said in a statement.
Tasnim added that Tehran and allied militant groups in the region have placed on their agenda the “complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the activation of other fronts,” including the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have previously launched attacks on passing vessels.
The reported draft agreement said Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz in return for the United States’ lifting its naval blockade.
That vessel, the amphibious landing ship INS Nahshon, was built by Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding in Louisiana and was fully financed by the US government. GSF activists first became aware of what they now call the “torture boat” when it was used to detain members of the previous Gaza-bound flotilla, dozens of whom required medical attention for broken ribs, noses, and other injuries inflicted by Israeli forces.
This time, according to GSF, “detained humanitarians, doctors, and journalists were processed one by one through a darkened shipping container. Inside, groups of three to five soldiers systematically brutalized each person who came through the door while those waiting outside listened to the screams.”
May 24, 2026 INTERNATIONAL – As civilian participants from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) begin landing in their respective home countries and some continue their recovery in Istanbul, the full, devastating scale of the violence executed by the israeli Occupation Forces (iOF) is being laid bare. Following the most recent unlawful interception of the flotilla in international waters on 18 May, newly emerging and harrowing testimonies confirm a coordinated campaign of systematic torture, severe physical and psychological trauma, and targeted gender-based and sexual violence.
(The violence reported in this release covers only the second of two illegal israeli interceptions that took place during the Spring 2026 flotilla mission; the first attack took place on 29 April off the coast of Crete, which also had numerous reports of sexual violence, rape and physical injuries including 35 people requiring medical care for broken noses, ribs and injuries from rubber bullets deployed by it iOF.)
(May 22, 2026)
In what is believed to be the US-built-and-funded INS Nahshon, detainees were “processed” one by one, and taken into darkened containers where groups of iOF commandos brutalised them one by one. Yassine Benjelloun, who had sailed on a previous flotilla mission and expected comparable treatment, described the moment of entry:
„He throws me in a container that is dark, and all of a sudden, I hear, “Welcome to israel. ” And I start getting hit, like first hit on the head, second hit in the ribs, then I fall, then they kick me. And I‘m hearing people screaming, and all of a sudden people stop screaming, and I don‘t see anything, and I don‘t know what‘s going to happen. “ — Yassine Benjelloun
Adrien Berthel, France, described being singled out for targeted humiliation and beating after iOF soldiers noticed he was wearing nail polish and made assumptions about his sexuality.
Veronica Otero, participant number 22 to board, witnessed the processing of nearly all 180 detainees across three days:
„I can say that all were in many ways abused, not one single person walking with nothing. Among them there were 36 fractures, many broken ribs, torso, shoulders, and back. People were in agony. People were not breathing [due to the broken ribs]. „— Veronica Otero
At least 12 sexual assaults have been documented on that vessel alone, including anal rape and forcible penetration by a handgun. iOF soldiers tased volunteers in the face, neck and body, the strikes multiplying with each new group brought in. Multiple volunteers report being photographed during strip searches and guards laughing throughout.
„I was illegally kidnapped by Israel – like 425 other people.“
„Handcuffs on my hands and feet. Dragged me. When I couldn‘t walk, they dragged me on the ground.“
„They hit us. Hurt all of us a lot. Handcuffs so tight my hands lost feeling.“
„They laughed all the time. Super sadistic.“
„Took off my shirt. Took pictures. Mistreated us all night long.“
Then she delivered her message to the world:
„Shame on you. Shame on all of you. Shame on every government that keeps trading with Israel. My government is complicit. Europe is complicit. The whole world is complicit.“
Those genocidal maniacs RAPED humanitarian activist trying to take food and medicine to children in Gaza! And the worst is that even this they escalate to much worse forms with the 9000 Palestinians in israeli dungeons (almost 400 children)!
(…)
He confirms the horrific reality that Arabic and non-white captives were beaten much worse.
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Catriona Graham was one of hundreds of activists who were detained by Israel this week while trying to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza by boat.
Israel‘s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir later posted a video showing himself taunting the activists as they kneeled with their hands tied behind their backs.
[May 21, 2026] The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) confirms that international volunteers abducted by Israeli forces during the unlawful interception of civilian vessels in international waters have now been released and deported. Two Korean nationals were deported to South Korea, one participant was deported to Egypt, two to Jordan, one Israeli citizen was released inside the country, and the remaining 422 participants were transferred to Istanbul aboard three Turkish Airlines flights arranged by the Turkish government.
While we are relieved that participants are no longer in Israeli custody, we reject any attempt to portray the abuse and degrading treatment witnessed by the world over recent days as isolated misconduct or the actions of extremist officials. The brutality broadcast across social media — including deliberate humiliation, threats, physical violence, degrading treatment, and openly dehumanizing rhetoric directed at unarmed civilians — is not an aberration. It is a manifestation of the same system of settler-colonial violence and impunity that Palestinians have endured for decades while being denied their most basic human rights.
Six countries with citizens among the participants — Italy, France, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain — summoned their respective Israeli ambassadors following the video. Others, including Britain, Germany, Ireland and Portugal, offered condemnation of how the activists were treated.
Several European countries on Wednesday condemned Israel’s assault on activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, following the interception of the vessel in international waters and the detention of its participants, describing their treatment as horrific, shocking and appalling.
The condemnations came after Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published a video showing dozens of activists kneeling with their hands tied inside the port of Ashdod.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir sparked outrage after confronting detained flotilla activists at Ashdod Port following Israel’s interception of Gaza-bound vessels. Viral footage showed heated exchanges between Ben-Gvir and pro-Palestine protesters, triggering political backlash and fresh diplomatic tensions.
International outcry was sparked after video showed Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir taunting flotilla activists at the Port of Ashdod who were detained in international waters after attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
(May 19, 2026)
The 428 abducted flotilla participants are currently unaccounted for. They have had no contact with legal counsel. They have been denied consular access. Their families have not been informed of their whereabouts.
We call on their governments and world leaders to demand their immediate and unconditional release and to ensure their right to consular and legal access without further delay.
Their detention is an extension of the same system that has kept nearly 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners and hostages held under an even more brutal architecture of confinement, coercion, and colonial violence. What has already been documented is not aberration. It is a pattern. Testimonies from flotilla participants released after the previous interception earlier this month, describe torture, physical assault, and sexual violence.
Independent rights organizations, including Save the Children, have documented that more than half of the Palestinian children detained by israel report sexual abuse, sexualized violence, and systematic torture. This pattern of sexual violence is systematically operating without interruption.
Gaza and the West Bank are where that structure is most illustrative. They are where weapons are tested, surveillance systems refined, and techniques of enclosure normalized before being exported into policing regimes, border infrastructures, prison systems, and governance models across the world.
The largest civilian flotilla in the history of support for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank was illegally attacked and boarded by Israeli navy forces, beginning at 10:30am Türkiye time, Monday, May 18, 2026.
Multiple large Israeli warships disgorged a large number of zodiac boats filled with combat laden Israeli Offensive Forces.
At this point, nine hours into the illegal attack, the combat Israeli military personnel forcefully boarded 27 of the ships in the flotilla organized by Global Sumud Flotilla, Freedom Flotilla Coalition and Mavi Marmara Freedom and Solidarity Association.
The Flotilla serves as a critical test for the international community and the current „Board of Peace“ architecture. Legal experts argue that such frameworks cannot be used as colonial gatekeepers to convert the legal right of humanitarian access into a foreign-administered permission regime which perpetuates the denial of Palestinian self-determination. There is a growing demand for United Nations member states to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice regarding whether the Security Council may lawfully endorse a regime that displaces Palestinian self-determination. By sailing, the Flotilla forces a choice upon international institutions to either uphold the rule of law or be complicit in a system that conditions life-saving relief on political approval.
On May 13, 2026, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) is launching five vessels — Adalah, Kyriakos X, Lina Al Nabulsi, PERSEVERANCE and Tenaz Love Aqsa Bangladesh — from a Greek island as part of the broader international flotilla effort to break Israel’s illegal siege of Gaza and challenge the impunity enabling genocide, starvation, and the wholesale erasure of the Palestinian people. These vessels will join approximately 55 additional boats departing from Marmaris, Türkiye. While our five boats (sailing under French, Italian and Polish flags) carry symbolic amounts of food and medicine, we are not an aid organization. We sail in defiance of a brutal and unlawful blockade designed to isolate, imprison, and persecute Palestinians, and in rejection of the international community’s failure to stop Israel’s ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people.
Strikes
57
Killed
192
In a post on X, Diaz-Canel urged the United States to instead lift its blockade.
„The damage could be eased in a much simpler and faster way by lifting or relaxing the blockade, since it is known that the humanitarian situation is coldly calculated and induced,“ he said.
But, if Washington showed „true willingness“ to provide aid, he added, „it will encounter no obstacles or ingratitude from Cuba.“
14 May 2026 08:39 BST
The Strait of Hormuz is open to all commercial ships if they coordinate with Iran’s naval forces, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday.
The minister is currently attending the Brics foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi.
Following a multi-week investigation, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Gaza flotilla activists Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Ávila were deported from Israel
The international community must understand the gravity of this moment. israel is holding a Palestinian activist seized in international waters without charge, threatening his children and family, psychologically tormenting him during interrogations, and allowing his health to deteriorate during a dry hunger strike.
The Global Sumud Flotilla calls on:
– The Swedish government to immediately demand Saif’s release and publicly condemn his treatment;
– International human rights organizations and legal bodies to intervene before irreversible harm is done;
– Media outlets worldwide to expose the reality of what is happening inside the Shikma detention facility for decades;
– People of conscience everywhere to raise urgent public pressure for Saif’s release and the release of Thiago and all Palestinian hostages and political prisoners
– Accountability of all those involved in these ongoing abuses and crimes against humanity against Saif, Thiago and all Palestinians.