{"id":477497,"date":"2025-10-06T06:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T06:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/477497\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T06:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T06:01:11","slug":"gaza-flotilla-passengers-allege-poor-conditions-in-detention-as-israel-prepares-to-deport-dozens-of-activists-gaza-flotilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/477497\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza flotilla passengers allege poor conditions in detention as Israel prepares to deport dozens of activists | Gaza flotilla"},"content":{"rendered":"

Activists from New Zealand<\/a> detained in Israel after they were removed from vessels carrying aid to Gaza are being held in poor conditions without access to water and legal representation, their families have said, as dozens more passengers from the Global Sumud Flotilla were set to be deported.<\/p>\n

Rana Hamida, Youssef Sammour and Samuel Leason were among 437 activists, parliamentarians and lawyers travelling aboard the flotilla, a coalition of more than 40 vessels carrying humanitarian aid whose goal was to breach Israel\u2019s 16-year maritime blockade of Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last week, Israeli forces intercepted all of the boats<\/a> in international waters and arrested every crew member onboard, including the three New Zealanders who were being held at Ktzi\u2019ot Prison in the Negev desert.<\/p>\n

Environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg<\/a>, who was also arrested, told Swedish officials that Israeli forces were subjecting her to harsh treatment<\/a>, including being held in a cell infested with bedbugs, not providing enough food and clean water and allegedly forcing her to hold flags for photographs.<\/p>\n

Thunberg will reportedly be among more than 70 people of different nationalities to leave Israel<\/a> on Monday. They include 28 French citizens, 27 Greeks, 15 Italians, and nine Swedes.<\/p>\n

Greta Thunberg and a crew member flash victory signs from their ship, part of the Global Sumud Flotilla aiming to reach Gaza, last week. Photograph: Stefanos Rapanis\/Reuters<\/p>\n

A first group of 26 Italians left Israel on Saturday. After returning to their country many said they were subjected to degrading treatment by Israeli authorities.<\/p>\n

The families of the three New Zealanders told media on Monday they were concerned for the safety and wellbeing of their loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very worried about Samuel, as he sits in a cell right now, in a cage crammed in with many other people \u2026 he has been without water and legal representation,\u201d said Adrian Leason, Samuel\u2019s father.<\/p>\n

Heba Hamida said her sister Rana had sustained an injury to her shoulder, but the family were unclear yet as to how it happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just going to ask the government to react and bring our loved ones home safe and in good health,\u201d Hamida said.<\/p>\n

Youssef\u2019s sister, Samar Sammour, said her brother had sailed into danger, not because he wanted to but because the government had failed to act.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge the New Zealand government to demonstrate principled leadership that defines us as a nation and to finally show the moral courage that people like Youssef, Rana and Samuel have shown in abundance.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement a consular partner in Tel Aviv had met with the New Zealanders and the ministry would provide further support in the coming days.<\/p>\n

It said it was not aware of any New Zealanders being on the most recent deportation flight.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s foreign ministry has denied accusations that some activists were denied access to their lawyers and said the legal rights of the activists were being \u201cfully upheld\u201d.<\/p>\n

Adalah, a legal centre in Israel representing the activists, said some of those detained have alleged abuse and physical violence while in Israeli custody. Other accusations of mistreatment include being denied medical treatment and medication, and in one case, a Muslim woman was allegedly forced to remove her hijab and was offered a shirt as a replacement.<\/p>\n

Asked about the allegations, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson accused Adalah of \u201crepeating outright lies\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the detainees\u2019 legal rights were fully upheld, and they were all given access to water, food, and restrooms. They were not denied access to legal counsel, and of course, no physical force was used against them,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The co-leader of New Zealand\u2019s Green Party, Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick, told a press conference the detained New Zealanders were trying to build a world \u201cin which our humanity actually means something\u201d.<\/p>\n

The party demanded the government make clear its plans for returning the New Zealanders, and called on prime minister Christopher Luxon to sanction Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur government has a legal obligation to prevent genocide. It is presently washing its hands of that obligation,\u201d Swarbrick said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Luxon said officials had conveyed \u201cvery strongly to the Israeli government\u201d that the safety of New Zealanders was paramount.<\/p>\n

Luxon would not condemn Israel\u2019s interception of the flotilla because there were \u201carguments on both sides\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going into a war zone \u2026 there\u2019s 40 boats and 500 people, you could argue they\u2019re trying to keep people safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in a lengthy post to X, foreign affairs minister Winston Peters accused Swarbrick of \u201cfaux moral outrage\u201d and said the members of the flotilla were \u201cheadline hunting\u201d and had been told not to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we have to spend all of our time and taxpayer money to solve their self righteous self inflicted petulant problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Guardian has contacted the Israeli embassy in New Zealand for comment.<\/p>\n

With Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Activists from New Zealand detained in Israel after they were removed from vessels carrying aid to Gaza are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-477497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115325703570470710","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}