“At this point, we are fully in control of 60 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said during a conference hosted by the pre-military Ein Prat leadership academy.
“My directive is to get to… 70 percent,” he added.
When audience members shouted in support of full Israeli control over Gaza, Netanyahu replied: “We’re going in order. First 70 percent… we’ll start with that.”
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.”
Two weeks ago, the investigative program HaMakor on Israel’s Channel 13 aired a 60-minute report on the December 2023 killing of three Israeli hostages — Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samer Al-Talalka — who were shot by Israeli soldiers in Shuja’iya, eastern Gaza City, after emerging from a hiding place carrying a white flag.
Even without intimate knowledge of the details, one thing should have been clear from the outset: When soldiers fire from inside buildings at three shirtless men carrying a white flag, kill two of them, then pursue the third, call him out of hiding, and shoot him dead, the issue is not merely “mistaken identity.” The issue is that Israeli soldiers routinely shoot innocent people. One would have to be extraordinarily naïve to believe that the single time this happened, the victims just happened to be Israelis.
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.
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.
(…)
(May 11, 2026)
I‘ve spent some time reporting on widespread rape and other sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities, and the article is now published. The assault victims were warned not to give speak of what they endured — they were sometimes told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews — but they found the courage to do so. One man described being raped three times in a single day in Israeli prison, the third time after he tried to protest. A young woman said the guards would come in at the beginning of each shift and strip her naked and abuse her. Another reported that she was shown photos of herself being raped and warned they would be released unless she cooperated with Israeli intelligence. Even three children who had been detained told me they had been sexually abused. Look, whatever our position on the Middle East, we should be able to agree on being anti-rape. Sexual assaults were horrific when Israeli women were targeted on Oct. 7, and they‘re equally horrific when Israeli authorities use them against Palestinians day after day after day. We should be able to find common ground in opposing rape. Here‘s a gift link to the article:
(transcript)
I’m appalled by this pattern of abuse, partly because our American tax dollars subsidize the Israeli security forces. I fear that leaves us complicit. The United States has leverage, and we could use it to insist on an end to the impunity and to demand that Red Cross visits be restored for Palestinian detainees. Look, whether you consider yourself pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, here’s one thing we should be able to agree on: We’re anti-rape. The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli women on Oct. 7 now happens to Palestinians day after day after day.
It’s a simple proposition: Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.
Supporters of Israel made that point after the brutal sexual assaults against Israeli women during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu and many U.S. senators, including Marco Rubio, condemned that sexual violence, and Netanyahu rightly called on “all civilized leaders” to “speak up.”
And yet in wrenching interviews, Palestinians have recounted to me a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children — by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the European Union on Monday after the bloc imposed sanctions on some Israeli settler organisations over violence against Palestinians.
„As Israel and the U.S. are ‚doing Europe‘s dirty work‘ by fighting for civilisation against jihadist lunatics in Iran and elsewhere, the European Union exposed its moral bankruptcy by drawing a false symmetry between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists,“ Netanyahu‘s office said on its official X account.
The Associated Press reported:
The ministry said that after the initial strike, the man and his daughter managed to move away from the site only to be attacked again by the drone instantly killing the man. The girl then moved about 100 meters (yards) away and was hit again by the drone after she had been already wounded.
The girl was taken to the hospital, but did not survive her injuries, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
“What does terrorism mean to you? If it’s [not] double-tap killings of paramedics, journalists, and today a 12 year old girl, then what is it?”
MEDITERRANEAN SEA — The Global Sumud Flotilla is releasing preliminary first-hand testimonies detailing a pattern of severe physical and sexual violence and systematic degradation perpetrated against civilian participants following the interception of the flotilla in international waters. These accounts, gathered following the release of 179 participants to Greek authorities, indicate a reliance on physical violence and abuse, including sexual abuse, as tools of intimidation and control.
(May 7, 2026)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday there was no „immunity“ for Israel‘s enemies, a day after the Israeli military targeted a Hezbollah commander in its first strike on Beirut‘s southern suburbs since a ceasefire declared last month.
“A plasterer in [the West Bank city of] Ramallah earns 1,500 shekels ($510) a month and a plasterer in [the Israeli town of] Ramle earns 7,000 shekels a month, so of course he‘s willing to risk being shot in the knee or a week of detention, if he succeeded in crossing over and can work in a bakery,” Bluth explained.
“There are a lot of ‘limping monuments’ in Palestinian villages, of those who tried to [cross the barrier], so there is a price being paid,” he boasted.
The Israeli general also said Palestinians throwing rocks were engaged in “terrorism,” while bragging about how many his troops had killed last year.
Israel’s top commander in the occupied West Bank has said the army is killing Palestinians at levels “not seen since 1967”, according to Haaretz.
Avi Bluth, head of the Israeli army’s Central Command, made the remarks in a closed forum, where he also defended looser rules of engagement allowing troops to fire at unarmed Palestinians.
He acknowledged a discriminatory approach whereby Jewish Israeli stone-throwers are not targeted while Palestinians carrying out similar acts are fired at.
„In three years, we have killed 1,500 terrorists,“ he said, referring to Palestinians.
„So how is there no intifada? Why aren’t they taking to the streets? Why is the Palestinian public indifferent? Why are there no disturbances?“ Bluth, a settler who has been the Israeli army commander in the West Bank since 2024, added.
The strike on the Saeed family home in the village of Srifa took place on Wednesday, the first day of a U.S.-Iran ceasefire that many in Lebanon hoped would apply to their country, too. Instead, Israeli strikes killed more than 350 across Lebanon and left the Saeed family with four more relatives to bury.
„They said it was a ceasefire. Like all these people, we went up to the village. We went to the casket to read the prayers and walk home… suddenly we felt like a storm was landing right on us,“ said Nasser Saeed, Aline‘s 64-year-old grandfather, who also survived.
On Sunday, he joined other relatives in the southern port city of Tyre to pick up the bodies…
(today)
Now, Hezbollah can continue to fire rockets across the border, and it has been doing that. Hezbollah has also been trying to slow Israel’s ground invasion in the south. But as you can see, Israel is the one that has the upper hand. It controls the skies, it can cause death, it can cause destruction, and this is all heaping pressure on the population and on the Lebanese government.
Hezbollah was counting on Iran having the leverage to silence this front, but that has not happened yet, despite statements from Iranian officials.
(31 min)
Israeli air strikes have targeted the cemetery in the Bekaa Valley village of Shmestar, killing at least 10 people and injuring four others who were attending a funeral, Lebanon’s National News Agency reports.
The agency said rescuers and medics are still operating at the scene.
Consistent with UNSC Resolution 2817, we emphasise that such interference with international shipping and the disruption of global energy supply chains constitute a threat to international peace and security.
Yes, but: France, Germany, Italy and Japan have previously all publicly ruled out sending naval vessels to the strait during the war.
Trump aides and allies denounced Kent as a leaker immediately after his resignation became public.
Kent wrote in his resignation letter that Iran poses “no imminent threat to our nation” and accused Trump of initiating the war “due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
The FBI and the White House declined to comment.
The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday (March 11) adopted a resolution urging Iran to stop its attacks on Gulf nations, but the text avoided mentioning recent US or Israeli strikes on Iran, drawing sharp criticism from Tehran.
The resolution passed with 13 votes in favour, while veto-holding members China and Russia abstained. It “demands the immediate cessation of all attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan.”
Der UN-Sicherheitsrat hat am Mittwoch mit klarer Mehrheit eine Resolution angenommen, in der ausschließlich die Angriffe des Iran auf die Golfstaaten verurteilt werden – nicht jedoch die vorangegangenen Angriffe der USA und Israels auf den Iran. China und Russland haben sich enthalten.
Presented by Bahrain and co-sponsored by 135 countries, the resolution emphasized „strong support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence“ of the GCC states and Jordan.
It strongly condemns the „egregious attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against“ the Gulf countries and Jordan, emphasizing that the attacks „constitute a breach of international law and a serious threat to international peace and security.“