Occupied Palestine – The Freedom Flotilla Coalition strongly condemns the Israeli government’s use of solitary confinement against two of its detained volunteers: Rima Hassan, a Palestinian Member of the European Parliament, and Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian human rights defender and member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition Steering Committee. Both were aboard the Madleen, a civilian aid ship carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza when it was unlawfully seized by Israeli forces in international waters.

Rima Hassan was reportedly placed in solitary confinement after writing “Free Palestine” on the wall of her cell. While she has since been removed from solitary and returned to Givon prison, her detention and the punitive measures taken against her remain a direct attack on a democratically elected official who has consistently advocated for justice, liberation, and an end to the illegal blockade of Gaza. Silencing a parliamentarian in this manner underscores the brutality and impunity of the Zionist regime.

Thiago Ávila has also been forcibly isolated — confined in a small, dark, airless, and contactless cell, where Israeli authorities have threatened to detain him for seven days. Ávila is on his third day of a hunger and water strike to denounce Israel’s crimes and the complicity of governments that have remained shamefully silent.