Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
08-10-2025
JERUSALEM/ GAZA STRIP: International activists deported from Israel after joining an intercepted Gaza aid flotilla have given further accounts of mistreatment by guards during their detention.
The latest claims made by participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla added to the growing scrutiny of Israel on Sunday for its treatment of the activists.
Some 450 participants in the flotilla were arrested between Wednesday and Friday as Israeli forces intercepted the boats, which were seeking to break a naval blockade of Gaza and deliver a symbolic amount of aid to Palestinians in the besieged territory.
Speaking at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport on his return on Sunday, Italian activist Cesare Tofani said, “We were treated terribly … From the army, we moved on to the police. There was harassment,” ANSA news agency reported.
Yassine Lafram, the president of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy, who landed at Milan Malpensa Airport with the activists, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper: “They even treated us violently, pointing weapons at us, and this is absolutely unacceptable for us in a country that considers itself democratic.”
Italian journalist Saverio Tommasi, who landed at Fiumicino Airport late on Saturday, said Israeli soldiers had withheld medicines and treated the detained activists “like monkeys”, The Associated Press reported.
He said the Israeli guards mocked the detained activists, who included Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, and several European lawmakers, in order to “demean, ridicule and laugh in situations where there is nothing to laugh about”.
Italian journalist Lorenzo D’Agostino said that his belongings and money had been “stolen by the Israelis”.
Speaking to AP on his arrival at Turkiye’s Istanbul Airport after being deported from Israel on Saturday, he said the detained activists were also intimidated with dogs and by soldiers pointing the laser sights of their guns at prisoners “to scare us”.
Another activist, Paolo De Montis, reported experiencing “constant stress and humiliation” at the hands of the guards, who kept him in a prison van for hours with his hands secured by zip ties.
“You weren’t allowed to look them in the face, always had to keep your head down and when I did look up, a man … came and shook me and slapped me on the back of the head,” he told media. “They forced us to stay on our knees for four hours.”
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.”
Deported activists from the flotilla had earlier spoken out about the mistreatment of Thunberg, one of the highest profile members of the mission, in particular, saying she had been “dragged on the ground”, “forced to kiss the Israeli flag”, and “used as propaganda”.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry and its far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir gave conflicting responses to the activists’ allegations, with the ministry insisting the stories of ill-treatment were “brazen lies”, while Ben-Gvir said he was “proud” of the detainees’ harsh treatment in Ketziot prison. (Int’l News Desk)
