{"id":15781,"date":"2026-05-02T17:50:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/15781\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T17:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:50:21","slug":"activists-detention-deepens-spain-israel-tensions-as-aid-group-says-men-have-begun-hunger-strike-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/15781\/","title":{"rendered":"Activists\u2019 detention deepens Spain-Israel tensions as aid group says men have begun hunger strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOLARES \u2013 Spain\u2019s foreign minister on Saturday called for the immediate release of an activist detained by Israel after an aid flotilla<\/a> bound for Gaza was intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters.<\/p>\n

Saif Abukeshek, a dual Spanish-Swedish citizen of Palestinian origin, was detained for questioning in Israel on Saturday along with Thiago \u00c1vila of Brazil. A legal aid group said both men had launched a hunger strike.<\/p>\n

Dozens of other activists<\/a> were picked up by the Greek coast guard following the Israeli action and taken to the island of Crete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a case of illegal detention in international waters, outside the jurisdiction of Israeli authorities. I have made this clear to my Israeli counterpart,\u201d Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares said in an interview with public radio.<\/p>\n

An Israel-based legal advocacy group, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, or Adalah, said it had visited the two men at a detention site in the Israeli port city of Ashkelon. It said both reported being on a hunger strike after allegedly being repeatedly beaten while in custody.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdalah maintains that the treatment of the two activists, including the use of isolation, prolonged blindfolding and physical beatings, constitutes a grave violation of international law,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

In an online post, Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry said Abukeshek and \u00c1vila were being questioned for possible links to the armed group Hamas. It said the two men had been granted consular visits.<\/p>\n

Abukeshek\u2019s detention has further strained relations between Israel and Spain, which has been an outspoken critic of the war in Gaza and formally recognized Palestinian statehood<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez took aim at his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, while speaking at a campaign event for upcoming regional elections in southern Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that Netanyahu has taken foreign citizens, including a Spanish national, and brought them to Israel, I have a few things to say to Prime Minister Netanyahu,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said to applause from supporters of his Socialist party.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, Spain will always protect its citizens. Second, we will always uphold international law \u2014 and this is yet another violation of it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd third, we demand the release of the Spanish citizen who has been illegally detained by the Netanyahu government.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Hazboun reported from Jerusalem. Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain contributed. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOLARES \u2013 Spain\u2019s foreign minister on Saturday called for the immediate release of an activist detained by Israel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[33,7580,205,9110,3625,17,3623,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-15781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","9":"tag-jose-manuel-albares","10":"tag-pedro-sanchez","11":"tag-renata-brito","12":"tag-saif-abukeshek","13":"tag-spain","14":"tag-thiago-avila","15":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}