‘We Were Tortured' Gaza Flotilla Activists Describe Israeli Treatment in Arrests
Activists detained by Israeli forces while trying to deliver aid to Gaza have said they were victims of beatings, sexual assault and torture.
The group from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) was intercepted in international waters west of Cyprus during the latest attempt by activists to break Israel‘s sea blockade of Gaza. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the activists were transferred to vessels and taken to Israel where they could meet their consular representatives.
Australian activist Juliet Lamont told Anadolu Agency that she was on a boat where 180 people were “systematically bashed and beaten.” She said that there were 40 people with broken ribs, people were “tasered in the face,” and that there were sexual assaults. “We were tortured,” she said.
On Thursday, Israel’s prison service said in a statement that detainees were held "in accordance with the law, with full regard for their basic rights and under the supervision of professional and trained prison staff," Reuters reported. “Medical care is provided according to professional medical judgment and in accordance with Ministry of Health guidelines,” the statement added.
Israel’s Prison Service spokesperson Zivan Freidin dismissed claims of assault on activists as “false and entirely without factual basis.”
Bianca Webb-Pullman, a doctor who was on board one of the vessels, told The Guardian. “They were very rough with us.”
“We were dragged off the boat, forced into a stress position and kept there for another hour while the Israeli soldiers played the national anthem,” she added.
Newsweek has not been able to verify the allegations and has contacted Israel’s prison service and Israel's foreign ministry on Friday, a holiday in Israel.
Footage of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting activists who were kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs, has been condemned by countries including the U.S., the U.K., France, Italy and Canada.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “has every right to prevent provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters from entering our territorial waters and reaching Gaza,” but did criticize Ben-Gvir’s actions as “not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”
Who Was On Board?
More than 50 boats had set sail from Turkey on May 14 with 438 people from over 40 countries on board. On Monday, armed Israeli naval commandos began intercepting the fleet in international waters, about 250 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza which is under an Israeli maritime blockade.
GSF said that by Tuesday evening, all the boats had been intercepted and that one had got within 80 nautical miles of the Palestinian territory.
Israel said it had deported all of the activists and Turkey sent charter flights to collect the detainees from the Ramon airport near Eilat. One participant, an Israeli citizen named as Zohar Regev, was still being held in custody pending a hearing at the Ashkelon Magistrate's Court, The Times of Israel reported.
A rights group representing the detainees, Adalah, said participants had been physically abused, resulting in “severe, widespread injuries” and that three had been hospitalized and later discharged.
Activists were also “subjected to severe degradation and sexual harassment and humiliation,” said Adalah, adding that there were “dozens of participants with suspected broken ribs” and that Israeli forces had used rubber bullets and Tasers.
“They attacked us. Each of us was beaten, women and men,” Turkish activist Bulal Kitay said after landing in Istanbul, according to the Daily Sabah. “It's what Palestinians experience all the time.”
Italian journalist Alessandro Mantovani said that Israeli officers struck detainees while transporting them in restraints to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
“They kicked us and punched us and shouted, ‘Welcome to Israel,'” Mantovani told reporters, according to the same publication.
New Zealand activist Mousa Taher told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency “they humiliated us. They want us to feel small. They made us crawl on the ground just to make us feel like we are nothing.” Another activist, Canadian citizen, Michael France told TRT World he was held with around 160 people in three shipping containers on a vessel converted into a prison ship.
“We were welcomed by tasers. We had flashbangs every two or three hours through the night, waking us up,” he added.
Irish citizen Caitriona Graham told Al Jazeera said she was pushed down by Israeli forces, who used rubber bullets and tied and blindfolded another participant, adding that “it was very clear that they were ready to escalate with violence.”
Meanwhile, Warsono Prasetyo, from Indonesia, told the South China Morning Post that his son Andre, who was among the flotilla, had “almost fainted at one point due to suffocation while they were all being handcuffed and herded away.”
The GSF said it was bringing in food, baby formula and medical aid for Gaza, where living conditions are dire and most of the 2.1 million population is displaced, despite the ceasefire agreed by Israel and Hamas last October.
Israel's Foreign Ministry has said that more than 1.5 million tonnes of aid and thousands of tonnes of medical supplies had entered the territory over the past seven months.
However, the U.N. said that displaced families in Gaza were still forced to shelter in overcrowded tents or severely damaged structures.
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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 6:50 AM.