Rome/Gaza: Participants of the Global Sumud Flotilla, intercepted by Israeli naval forces last week, claim they faced harsh treatment while in custody. Around 450 activists from various countries were detained between Wednesday and Friday during the maritime operation.
Speaking from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, Italian activist Cesare Tofani described the experience as degrading. “We were treated terribly … From the army, we moved on to the police. There was harassment,” he told ANSA news agency.
The flotilla was carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid intended for Gaza, where Israel has maintained a tight blockade. Human rights groups and flotilla organizers say the goal was to draw international attention to the humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave.
Israel's Cruelty:
Yassine Lafram, the president of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy, who landed at Milan Malpensa Airport with the activists, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper: “They even treated us violently, pointing weapons at us, and this is absolutely unacceptable for us in a country that considers itself democratic.”
Italian journalist Saverio Tommasi, who landed at Fiumicino Airport late on Saturday, said Israeli soldiers had withheld medicines and treated the detained activists “like monkeys”, The Associated Press reported.
He said the Israeli guards mocked the detained activists – who included Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, and several European lawmakers – in order to “demean, ridicule and laugh in situations where there is nothing to laugh about”.
[caption id="attachment_1136292" align="alignnone" width="770"]
Global Sumud Flotilla activists deported from Israel give the peace sign after arriving at Istanbul Airport in Turkiye.[/caption]
Italian journalist Lorenzo D’Agostino said that his belongings and money had been “stolen by the Israelis”.
Speaking to AP on his arrival at Turkiye’s Istanbul Airport after being deported from Israel on Saturday, he said the detained activists were also intimidated with dogs and by soldiers pointing the laser sights of their guns at prisoners “to scare us”.
Hamas Denies Disarmament Reports:
In a separate development, Hamas strongly denied media reports that it had agreed to surrender its weapons. The denial came in response to a report by Al Arabiya, which claimed that Hamas had informed the United States of its willingness to disarm and hand over its arsenal to a joint Palestinian-Egyptian authority, in exchange for Israeli withdrawal guarantees.
“The news published in Al Arabiya is false,” a senior Hamas leader stated. “The aim is to mislead public opinion.”
Al Arabiya’s report further claimed that Qatar had facilitated communication between Hamas and the U.S., and that Washington had offered guarantees regarding a permanent Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
So far, neither the U.S. State Department nor Qatari mediators have publicly commented on the reported developments.
