Tel Aviv: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Adalah, has accused Israeli authorities of unlawfully detaining participants of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), who were intercepted in international waters while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip.
In a statement on Instagram, Adalah said its lawyers met with hundreds of flotilla participants at Ashdod Port, where they were initially processed without legal counsel and subjected to degrading treatment.
“They were zip-tied, forced to kneel for hours, and falsely branded as terrorists. The interception in international waters amounts to abduction, while the blockade itself is illegal,” Adalah said.
The organisation added that detainees were later transferred to the Negev Detention Centre (Ketziot Prison), where tribunal hearings began without notifying or allowing their lawyers to attend. It confirmed that its legal team is now present at the facility to ensure detainees’ rights are protected and that all participants are accounted for.
Adalah demanded the immediate release of the flotilla activists, the return of confiscated humanitarian aid and urgent international intervention to monitor prison conditions and hold Israel accountable.
Far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir further inflamed tensions by filming himself inside Ketziot Prison, boasting about the detention of flotilla participants. “As I promised, the women who support terrorism are here. There are no games here; they receive the same conditions as terrorists,” he declared.
He displayed the high-security facility, stressing that parliamentarians and journalists among the detainees would be treated as Palestinian prisoners. On one wall, a photo of destroyed Gaza bore the caption in Arabic, “The New Gaza.” Rights groups described it as deliberate humiliation, turning devastation into “state décor” and a “trophy of annihilation.”
The Palestinian Prisoners Club said the Negev prison has a record of widespread abuses against Palestinian detainees. It reported that several prisoners have died there since the Gaza war began, including Thaer Abu Asab, who allegedly succumbed to torture and beatings, according to Saba News Agency..
The attack on the flotilla occurred on Wednesday night, October 1, when Israeli naval forces seized multiple vessels and detained more than 450 activists from over 40 countries. The GSF is the largest naval aid mission yet to attempt to break the blockade on Gaza, and its interception has drawn worldwide condemnation and sparked protests across major cities.
Israel has maintained the blockade for nearly 18 years, tightening restrictions in March by closing crossings and cutting off essential supplies.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli strikes have killed nearly 66,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
