{"id":95307,"date":"2026-05-03T08:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/95307\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T08:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:58:11","slug":"two-foreign-activists-seized-from-gaza-aid-flotilla-appear-before-israeli-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/95307\/","title":{"rendered":"Two foreign activists seized from Gaza aid flotilla appear before Israeli court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two foreign activists<\/a> from a Gaza-bound flotilla who were seized and brought to Israel for interrogation<\/a> appeared before an Israeli court on Sunday, a rights group defending them said.<\/p>\n

The flotilla of more than 50 vessels<\/a> had set sail from France<\/a>, Spain<\/a> and Italy<\/a> with the aim of breaking an Israeli blockade of Gaza and bringing humanitarian supplies to the devastated Palestinian territory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They were intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off Greece<\/a> early on Thursday, with Israel<\/a> saying it had removed some 175 activists \u2013 two of whom were taken to Israel for questioning.<\/p>\n

Read more‘Collective punishment’: MSF says Israel is weaponising water access in Gaza<\/a><\/p>\n

Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila appeared before a court in Ashkelon on Sunday.<\/p>\n

“The state asked to extend their detention by four days,” said Miriam Azem, international advocacy coordinator at the rights group Adalah.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Adalah said its lawyers had met the two detained activists at Shikma Prison in Ashkelon.<\/p>\n

Avila told the lawyers he had been “subjected to extreme brutality” when the vessels were seized, adding that he was “dragged face-down across the floor and beaten so severely that he passed out twice”.<\/p>\n

Since arriving in Israel, he said he had been “kept in isolation and blindfolded”, according to Adalah.<\/p>\n

Abu Keshek was also “hand-tied and blindfolded … and forced to lie face-down on the floor from the moment of his seizure” until reaching Israel, the group said.<\/p>\n

Israel’s foreign ministry alleged the two activists were affiliated with an organisation that was sanctioned by the US Treasury.<\/p>\n

That group \u2013 the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) \u2013 has been accused by Washington of “clandestinely acting on behalf of” Palestinian militant group Hamas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Israel’s foreign ministry alleged that Abu Keshek was a leading member of the PCPA, and that Avila was also linked to the organisation and “suspected of illegal activity”.<\/p>\n

Spain has condemned the detention of Avila and rejected the Israeli accusation against him.<\/p>\n

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two foreign activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla who were seized and brought to Israel for interrogation appeared before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[21490,31930,37,33286,33288,18477,2425,33550,33549,33287,32739],"class_list":{"0":"post-95307","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-ashkelon","9":"tag-flotilla","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-israel39s-foreign-ministry","12":"tag-israeli-blockade-of-gaza","13":"tag-israeli-court","14":"tag-israeli-forces","15":"tag-palestinian-territory","16":"tag-rights-group","17":"tag-saif-abu-keshek","18":"tag-thiago-avila"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116509822371066640","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}