International activists, journalists and lawyers deported from Israel after attempting to breach the 16-year maritime blockade of Gaza have alleged being subjected to brutal physical and verbal abuse by Israeli forces during their detention. The alleged abuses included sleep and medication deprivation, beatings, having automatic rifles pointed at their heads, dogs set upon them, and being forced to sleep on the floor.
Saverio Tommasi, an Italian journalist, said: “I was beaten from the moment we entered the port until the very end. Blows to my back, blows to my head – and they [the Israeli soldiers] laughed, laughed at all of it.” Israeli forces intercepted all boats of the Global Sumud flotilla, which carried more than 400 people including parliamentarians and the environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg, last week. Most detainees were held at Ketziot, a high-security prison in the Negev desert.
Israel’s foreign ministry dismissed the claims as “brazen lies”, stating: “All the detainees’ legal rights are fully upheld.” The national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he was “proud” of staff behaviour at Ketziot and added: “They should get a good feel for the conditions in Ketziot prison and think twice before they approach Israel again.”
Several members of the flotilla said Israeli forces appeared to single out Thunberg for harsher treatment. An email from the Swedish foreign ministry confirmed that she had been forced “to hold flags” and detained in a cell infested with bedbugs with insufficient food and water. The Israeli foreign ministry said Thunberg “did not complain to the Israeli authorities about any of these ludicrous and baseless allegations – because they never occurred”.
Ada Colau, former mayor of Barcelona, said on her return to Spain that the prison yard by her cell had a huge photograph of a bombed-out Gaza with a caption reading “Welcome to the new Gaza”. She described the jail as “the prison of a fascist state”. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade notified the family of one participant that he had reported being assaulted and injured during the interception and later attacked while in prison.
