Deported flotilla activists allege 'sadistic' sexual abuse and torture in Israeli captivity
Activists report being stripped, 'water-tortured' and
dragged along the ground with bound hands and feet
By MEE staff
Published date: 22 May 2026
Flotilla activists who were abducted and jailed
by Israeli authorities while in international waters have
reported being subjected to sexual abuse and torture while in Israeli
captivity.
Some 430 activists, who were held after Israeli forces
raided the Gaza-bound Global Sumud
Flotilla, were deported to
Istanbul on Thursday evening.
Footage showed activists arriving at airports clad in
grey prison tracksuits and keffiyehs with their fists raised, as families and
supporters greeted them.
Upon arrival the activists reported being fired at
with rubber bullets, beaten and subjected to sexual assault while in Israeli
custody.
Italian journalist Alessandro Mantovani, who is among
the deportees, told reporters at Rome’s Fiumicino airport that he and others were
“taken to Ben Gurion airport in handcuffs and with chains on our feet and put
on a flight to Athens”.
He said that Israeli soldiers “beat us up. They kicked
us and punched us and shouted, ‘Welcome to Israel’.”
Miriam Azem, from the Israeli rights group Adalah,
reported that one of the activists “was forced to strip naked and run while
guards were laughing”.
One activist said in a video interview that her hands and feet were bound as she was dragged
by Israeli soldiers, adding that the cuffs were so tight that “my hands lost
feeling”.
"They laughed all the time. Super sadistic,"
she told reporters. "They took off my shirt, took pictures. Mistreated us
all night long."
Australian activist Juliet Lamont said she was “tied with cables, water tortured and
sexually assaulted”.
“People had broken ribs, were tased in the face, and
injected with unknown sedatives.”
Photos shared online appear to show activists who have
sustained injuries from the alleged beatings.
Brazilian activist Thiago Avila who was detained by
Israeli during a previous flotilla operation published a
video in which he
alleged that activists were “raped” by Israeli soldiers.
He said that there were “many cases of
sexual violence … on the prison boat, on the way to the port of
Ashdod”.
Adalah said that Israel’s “entire operation”,
including the “unlawful” raid of the aid vessels in international waters and
the "systemic torture, humiliation, and arbitrary detention" of the
activists on board, constitutes "a flagrant violation of international
law".
Global outrage
The activists’ release follows global outrage over a
video circulated online of far-right security minister Itamar Ben Gvir
overseeing the humiliation and abuse of the detained flotilla participants.
He was filmed waving an Israeli flag and confronting
the detained activists as they were being manhandled and forced to kneel facing
the ground by officers from the Israel Prison Service.
The footage sparked a backlash inside Israel, though
it was largely focused on concerns that the video had damaged the country’s
standing abroad.
It also drew condemnation from several world leaders,
including officials from countries whose citizens were among those detained by
Israel.
Antonio Costa, president of the European Council,
said he was "appalled" by the footage.
Meanwhile, a number of countries, including the UK,
Italy, Spain and France, summoned Israel’s charge d'affaires over the video.
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