35 Injured, 2 Detained After IOF Attack on GSF Vessels

By Staff, Agencies

35 activists were injured after an "Israeli" assault on Global Sumud Flotilla [GSF] vessels in the Mediterranean’s international waters as they headed toward Gaza to deliver aid and challenge the blockade.

The "Israeli" occupation forces [IOF] stormed 22 civilian vessels on Wednesday, abducting 180 unarmed humanitarian activists. Of those, 178 have since been released. Saif Abukeshek, a Spanish-Swedish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila remain in "Israeli" detention.

According to the GSF, "Israeli" authorities have officially acknowledged that Abukeshek and Avila are being taken to Occupied Palestine against their will.

Among the wounded are nationals from New Zealand, Australia, Italy, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Germany, Hungary, Ukraine, France, Poland, and Portugal. One injured activist holds dual Turkish-German nationality. The identities of three further injured participants are still being verified.

60 participants are currently on hunger strike in protest.

The 180 abducted participants were held for nearly 40 hours aboard the "Israeli" naval vessel "NAHSHON", confined within a makeshift enclosure of shipping containers, denied adequate food and water, and forced to sleep on floors that were deliberately flooded.

In a recorded testimony, Spanish activist Javi Aparente said IOF forced detainees to kneel with hands on their heads, separated and restrained them, and brought them to Abukeshek, who was already bound and lying on the floor.

"Saif was screaming that his hand ties were very tight, he was complaining that he couldn't feel his hand," Aparente recounted. When soldiers attempted to loosen the restraints using scissors, they injured him in the process.

"They stepped on him, he was screaming." Abukeshek also reported difficulty breathing. He and two others were subsequently taken into solitary confinement. That was the last any participant saw of him.

Six activists in total were placed in solitary confinement over the course of the detention, including participants identified as Tony, Sameer, and Richard, the latter seized and kicked repeatedly for leading chants. "We heard him screaming," Aparente said.

In the hours before transfer, activists organized a sit-in, chanting for nearly an hour and demanding medicine, sanitary pads, water, and the release of their comrades.

The IOF responded with escalating force. "They started dragging people… those of us leading the chants, they targeted us a bit more," Aparente said. "They came for me and stepped onto my throat really hard so that I would stop chanting."

He was then dragged into a transfer container. "The moment I was in the darkness of the container, they started kicking me, on my back, on the side, and then eventually they kicked my head, my face, my nose. I had a crack, so I was very sure it was broken already, and I started bleeding a lot."

The GSF has accused the Greek government not of passive complicity but of active collaboration for allowing IOF to operate within a Greek search and rescue zone and facilitating the disembarkation of abducted civilians at a Cretan port.

Aparente described what awaited participants on arrival. "I know from one of the policewomen that they had been there since last night, so they had prior notice for sure."

Despite advance warning, authorities provided four buses, insufficient water, no food, and no psychological support. Activists requiring urgent medical care were initially prevented from being transferred to the hospital because Greek authorities wanted everyone loaded onto buses first.

The flotilla has called Greece's conduct a disgrace and warned the country risks becoming "a pariah state" for positioning itself as the "most privileged ally of a genocidal state" at a moment of its widespread international delegitimisation.