\n Israeli officers bring Spanish activist Saif Abu Keshek to a court in Ashkelon on Tuesday [Getty]<\/p>\n
Israeli authorities are expected to seek an extension of the detention of foreign activists from the Gaza flotilla<\/a> who were detained last week, according to a legal rights group.<\/p>\n Mutasem Zeidan, a spokesperson for the Israel-based NGO Adalah, told The New Arab that an Israeli court was set to hold a hearing on Tuesday to consider prolonging the detention<\/a> of activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla<\/a>.<\/p>\n The hearing concerns the cases of Saif Abu Kheshek and Thiago Avila, who were taken for questioning after being detained in international waters near Greece late on 29 April.<\/p>\n They were among roughly 180 people abducted when Israeli forces intercepted the vessel around 600 nautical miles from Gaza.<\/p>\n As the pair entered their seventh day in detention in Ashkelon, Zeidan said the outcome of the hearing remained uncertain.<\/p>\n “We cannot predict what may happen in court today and we are in a legal process and it may require an appeal on our part to the court,” he said.<\/p>\n Adalah, a legal centre for Arab minority rights in Israel, said Brazilian national Avila had received death threats<\/a> and faces the prospect of “over 100 years in prison”.<\/p>\n The organisation also said in a statement on Monday that both Avila and Abu Kheshek had been subjected to various forms of abuse and torture while in custody<\/a>. Both activists are currently on hunger strike<\/a>.<\/p>\n During a previous hearing on Sunday, Adalah said state prosecutors had presented a list of alleged offences, including “assisting the enemy during wartime” and “membership in and providing services to a terrorist organisation”.<\/p>\n The accusations reportedly relate to alleged links with the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), which Washington claims has ties to Hamas.<\/p>\n