{"id":101732,"date":"2025-10-03T20:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T20:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/101732\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T20:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T20:36:08","slug":"irish-aid-flotilla-detainees-kicked-cable-tied-in-israeli-custody-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/101732\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish aid flotilla detainees \u2018kicked, cable-tied\u2019 in Israeli custody \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some Irish citizens who were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza<\/a> have told lawyers representing them how they suffered \u201caggressive treatment and violence\u201d in Israeli custody, including being kicked when trying to sleep, and are now being kept in a notorious desert prison.<\/p>\n

Lawyers from Adalah, a legal centre that defends Palestinians in Israel<\/a>, have met and represented 10 out of the 16 detained Irish citizens since they were taken from their boats and brought to Israel.<\/p>\n

They are now in Ktzi\u2019ot Prison, a vast detention facility usually used for Palestinians, in the Negev desert, though it is unclear whether they are within the main jail or a separate part used for immigration cases.<\/p>\n

The details of their <\/b>alleged treatment were given to Adalah lawyers by Irish detainees while they were in Ashdod port and before their transfer to the prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them reported minor violence, being kicked when trying to sleep, which is something that we\u2019ve seen with a few of them,\u201d said Miriam Azem of Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother reported that they were tied with cables behind their back for a few hours. Another mentioned pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She declined to specify which of the Irish citizens had reported the ill-treatment, saying their details would be kept private until permission was explicitly given.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018We will not stop\u2019: Gaza flotilla blocked \u2014 but gains global spotlight<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen microaggressions … aggressive treatment and violence,\u201d she said, in a phone interview from outside Ktzi\u2019ot Prison, adding that overall the Irish detainees were doing \u201crelatively okay\u201d.<\/p>\n

Five Irish citizens had not spoken to Adalah lawyers because they were \u201crushed into processing\u201d without being given access to legal representation, Ms Azem said. <\/p>\n

The Irish citizens have been given consular assistance since their detention, she said. She expects the deportation process to take several days.<\/p>\n

Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel\u2019s foreign ministry has said all the detainees \u201care safe and in good health\u201d and they would be deported as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

In all, Adalah lawyers managed to meet 331 participants of the flotilla out of more than 400 who were detained by Israeli authorities, which have prevented their attempt to breach a 17-year naval blockade on Gaza with deliveries of humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n

The lawyers spoke to the flotilla participants at Ashdod port between 3pm local time on Thursday and 5.30am on Friday. The detainees were then moved to Ktzi\u2019ot Prison, where hearings were ongoing inside about their pending deportation.<\/p>\n

Participants of the flotilla <\/b>said they <\/b>were \u201cdenied access to water, bathrooms and medications\u201d and \u201cforced to kneel with their hands zip-tied for at least five hours\u201d following their detention at sea, the Adalah legal centre said.<\/p>\n

The legal centre described a visit by Israel\u2019s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir \u2013 during which he berated the flotilla activists as \u201cterrorists\u201d \u2013 as \u201cclearly intended as an act of humiliation and intimidation\u201d and \u201ca degrading display of control\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticipants\u2019 rights were systematically violated during this process,\u201d Adalah said in a statement, saying that processing and hearings had started at Ashdod port before the detainees were given access to lawyers. <\/p>\n

The legal centre\u2019s attorneys said they went to Ashdod port to try to gain access to the flotilla participants to offer their services, but were denied access, were left waiting for nine hours outside and were not notified when hearings began.<\/p>\n

Again at Ktzi\u2019ot Prison, authorities \u201cinitiated tribunal hearings without informing the legal team, proceeding entirely without legal representation\u201d, the centre said. The lawyers were ultimately allowed into the prison and were at work representing detainees on Friday evening.<\/p>\n

Azem said there were concerns about the treatment of the detainees within Ktzi\u2019ot because of the reputation of the detention centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prison is a security prison reserved almost exclusively for Palestinians, where they receive very, very harsh treatment. We saw historically, and over the last two years especially, heightened violence and numerous cases of death,\u201d Ms Azem said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever that being said, we\u2019re not sure whether the participants are being held within Ktzi\u2019ot proper or within an immigration-type facility within the complex.\u201d<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris<\/a> said in a statement on Friday: \u201cI can confirm that a team from Ireland\u2019s Embassy to Israel, led by the ambassador, had the opportunity to visit Ktzi\u2019ot Prison today where officials met with Irish citizens detained following the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla. Where there were individual requests for assistance, our ambassador is following up with the Israeli authorities directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also continuing to gather information on next steps in the process for the Irish citizens involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including through the Embassy to Israel, will continue to provide all possible and appropriate consular assistance. <\/p>\n

\u201cOfficials remain in contact with family members who have requested our support. I understand that this is an exceptionally difficult time for them, and we will continue to update them as we receive more information.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some Irish citizens who were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza have told lawyers representing them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,38531,6,64364,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-101732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-global-sumud-flotilla","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ktziot-prison","15":"tag-latest-news","16":"tag-latestnews","17":"tag-main-news","18":"tag-mainnews","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-world","23":"tag-world-news","24":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}