UN calls for release of two flotilla activists as Israel extends their detention

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called today for the release of two Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) organizers who were kidnapped by Israeli forces last week and have been held in Israel since. Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago de Ávila were detained in international waters near the Greek island Crete, along with other activists, by Israeli forces who attacked 22 vessels from the fleet that was aiming to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza. An Israeli court extended their detention on Tuesday, until May 10 on terrorism charges. Abu Keshek and Ávila’s legal team tried to appeal the decision, but the appeal was rejected on Wednesday. Eyewitness accounts say Abu Keshek and Ávila were beaten and tortured before being taken back to Israel for trial, Ehab Lotayef, a member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition participating in the fleet, told Mada Masr. Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origins, and Ávila, a Brazilian national, were among hundreds of international activists who launched last month a new attempt to sail across the Mediterranean Sea to the shores of Gaza, aiming to break the siege imposed by the Israeli occupation on the strip. About 180 activists were detained on an Israeli cargo ship, where Abu Keshek and Ávila were singled out and subjected to torture, as the other activists who were present later said, according to Lotayef. Abu Keshek and Ávila were taken to Israel, which Lotayef said he believes is because Israeli authorities were specifically targeting leading organizers of the mission. The rest of the activists were then dropped off in Crete “with the approval of the Greek government, which is also very unfortunate,” Lotayef said. He explained that those with a Schengen visa can move around in Crete, while others have more limited movement. This flotilla is the fourth activist voyage aiming to break the siege since the beginning of the genocidal war on Gaza, and the second under the banner of the GSF, which was formed in 2025 by several groups and organizations after Israel forced the strip into starvation by completely blocking aid entry. The new fleet started sailing from Gaza in groups starting in mid-April. About 60 vessels were already in the middle of the water when 22 of them were attacked by Israeli forces on April 29, similar to what happened to previous fleets. However, the attack this time occurred much farther away from Gaza’s coastline, deeper into international waters, than during the previous attempts to break the siege. “The entity calling itself a state has become a group of pirates — going and kidnapping people from ships 500 nautical miles away under any pretext is truly unbelievable. They attacked the ships as they’re always used to, but the difference is that they were very far from Israel or Gaza,” Lotayef said. Israel is accusing Abu Keshek and Ávila of offenses including aiding the enemy, contact with a foreign agent and a terrorist organization, prohibited activity involving a terrorist ​component and providing means to a terrorist organization, although no formal charges have been pressed yet. An Israeli Foreign Ministry statement claimed the two are linked to Hamas and that the flotilla “is another provocation designed to divert attention from Hamas’ refusal to disarm,” while denying the accusations of torture as false and baseless. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares demanded Abu Keshek’s immediate release, saying he told his Israeli counterpart that the two activists’ detention was illegal as it took place in international waters. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio ⁠Lula da Silva also condemned their detention as “an unjustifiable action by the Israeli government.” Both countries issued a joint statement to condemn the two activists’ abduction. In its statement today, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights demanded the immediate release of the two activists, noting their arrest in international waters and detention without charge, as well as the “disturbing accounts of severe mistreatment.” “It is not a crime to show solidarity and attempt to bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in Gaza, who are in dire need of it,” the OHCHR statement said. “We call for an end to Israel’s use of arbitrary detention and of broadly and vaguely defined terrorism legislation, inconsistent with international human rights law. Israel must also end its blockade on Gaza and allow and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance to the besieged Palestinian strip, in sufficient amounts,” the statement added. Despite the attack and arrests, Lotayef, who is part of a smaller group of Freedom Flotilla Coalition vessels that was getting ready to sail from Sicily to join the 60 other vessels when the attack took place, said that the GSF mission has not been cancelled. The remaining vessels that set sail from Barcelona have headed to Crete due to bad weather conditions, he explained, with his group on the way to join them there, but they will all soon continue sailing toward Gaza. Everyone is on alert after the attack. “We are no longer expecting an attack when we get closer; we are now expecting an attack at any moment. Until last year, we used to say that an attack could happen in an area that is technically international waters, but within 50-100 nautical miles from the shores of Gaza. But now, an attack could happen anywhere,” Lotayef said. Nearly 150 activists who participated in the GSF’s first voyage last year were arrested by Israeli forces near the coast of Gaza and taken to Israel, before being released and deported. But the attacks have not turned them away amid the ongoing blockade on Gaza. “It is something that requires the international community to take action. When a journalist or anyone else asks, ‘Why are you doing this?’ My answer is the same: the governments are silent. If the governments had taken action, we wouldn’t be doing what we are doing,” he stressed. The post UN calls for release of two flotilla activists as Israel extends their detention first appeared on Mada Masr .