Flotilla activist details 52 hours on an Israeli prison ship, alleging beatings, stun grenades and a stabbing at Ashdod
A participant in the Global Sumud Flotilla -- the fleet of more than 50 boats that left Marmaris, Turkiye, on May 14 to challenge Israel's naval blockade of Gaza -- has published a first-person account of 52 hours held aboard the Nahshon, one of two Israeli landing craft converted into floating prisons after naval forces intercepted the convoy near Cyprus on May 18 and detained 428 activists from more than 45 countries. He alleges repeated beatings, Taser use, stun grenades and a "torture container" in which detainees who "looked Turkish or Arab" were held longest, and says a guard at the port of Ashdod thrust a folding knife at his abdomen, cutting his hand in a 4cm wound that went untreated. The account, part of a series of abuse allegations by released detainees, says the injury has since been documented by medical staff in Athens and will feature in legal proceedings.
A participant in the Global Sumud Flotilla has given a detailed first-person account of his detention by Israeli forces, alleging systematic abuse over an ordeal he puts at 72 hours at sea and on land. The flotilla, more than 50 sailboats carrying activists and symbolic humanitarian aid for Gaza, set off from Marmaris, Turkiye, on Thursday, May 14 to challenge Israel's naval blockade. On the afternoon of Monday, May 18, Israeli naval forces intercepted his vessel, La Sirena, in international waters near Cyprus, and over the following two days boarded every boat, detaining 428 activists from more than 45 countries. The seven aboard La Sirena were transferred to the Nahshon, one of two Israeli military landing craft converted into floating prisons.
The activist describes being processed by masked commandos and then thrown into a shipping container repurposed as a processing chamber, where he says he was beaten. He recounts a compound ringed by six containers, one of which detainees called the "torture container," from which comrades emerged injured to the sound of Tasers and stun grenades; guards, he says, fired stun grenades into the compound, trained laser sights and strobe lights on detainees, and posted a sticker reading "F*** Hamas" beside Israeli and US flags. He alleges that detainees who "looked Turkish or Arab" were kept in the torture container longest.
On reaching the Israeli port of Ashdod, he says, detainees were beaten again and forced into stress positions before being fingerprinted and photographed. Dragged into a curtained-off area by two guards, he says one thrust a folding knife toward his abdomen; he moved and the blade struck his hand, leaving a 4cm wound that drew blood and went untreated. He states the injury has since been documented by medical staff in Athens and will form part of ongoing legal proceedings, and alleges he was then forced to strip, adding that other released detainees reported being forced to strip and that several said they had been threatened with stabbing.
The detainees were later moved to Ketziot prison in southern Israel, where the activist says injured comrades were never treated and prisoners were crammed 30 to a small cell. His testimony follows allegations by other released flotilla participants of beatings, sexual assault and rape after the interception in international waters, and he frames the detainees' treatment as an extension of Israel's long-running detention of Palestinians.