Activists detained on Gaza flotilla allege abuse in Israeli custody

Rome prosecutors opened a criminal probe into the treatment of activists seized from the Global Sumud Flotilla, pushing the dispute over Israel’s Gaza blockade into European courtrooms and ministries as Italian officials and other EU governments weighed a response. The flotilla, made up of 50 boats with about 430 volunteers aboard, was intercepted in international waters as it tried to deliver aid to Gaza. Italian prosecutors were examining possible charges including kidnapping, torture and sexual violence, while Italy also summoned Israel’s ambassador and pressed fellow EU members to consider sanctions on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The activists’ accounts described beatings, tasers, attack dogs, hair-pulling and hours of confinement in containers and prison vans. Some told reporters they were denied medicine, contact with lawyers or embassy officials, and one Italian journalist said guards withheld medicines and treated prisoners “like monkeys.” Australian activist Juliet Lamont said she was dragged, sexually assaulted and beaten. Israel’s prison service rejected the claims as “false and entirely without factual basis,” and said detainees were held “in accordance with the law, with full regard for their basic rights.”

The controversy spread quickly beyond the activists themselves. Global Sumud Flotilla organizers said they had documented at least 15 cases of sexual abuse, with several participants hospitalized for injuries after deportation. Germany said some of its nationals had been injured and that some accusations were “serious,” while U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, “We’re very concerned by these reports.” The flashpoint intensified after Ben-Gvir posted video of himself taunting bound detainees, a display that helped turn the flotilla episode into a diplomatic test as much as a legal one. If Italy’s case advances, it could become one of the clearest attempts yet by a European ally to convert allegations of abuse into sustained pressure on Israel beyond the battlefield itself.