European activists from Gaza flotilla recount torture, sexual assaults by Israeli forces

International activists who boarded the Gaza-bound Flotilla have told tales of violence and torture during the interception of their vessels by Israeli occupation forces.

In a shocking report, France's leading newspaper Le Monde published the testimonies of European activists of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, reporting on systematic torture and sexual assault by criminal Israeli forces during their detention.

From Rome, activist Martina Comparelli, who returned to Italy on Thursday, recounted being beaten and witnessing beatings while on the Israeli military ship.

She also described being sexually assaulted, like 12 other members of the flotilla.

On the boat, a state of exception prevailed – arbitrary and free from rules, she explained.

"The guards who beat, assaulted and humiliated us are self-convinced and zealous," Comparelli said.

"They seem to live in a parallel reality, accusing us of coming for money or for sex."

One of Comparelli's torturers, armed with an assault rifle, threatened her with death several times, the activist said.

Still, she knew that, for her, the violence was only temporary: "Unlike the Palestinians, who can be detained indefinitely and who die in prison, I knew I would get out."

"Our governments turn a blind eye when it comes to the Palestinians," she continued, "but when it happens to us, they open their eyes."

Other members of the flotilla also noted that the violence had escalated compared to previous episodes of interception and detention.

In Paris, several of the flotilla returnees gathered on Saturday afternoon at Place de la République.

They were among the roughly 1,000 protesters waving Palestinian flags.

Two others remained hospitalized: a young woman wounded in the thigh by a Flash-Ball shot and a young man with a broken sternum.

Those present at the rally said that the mistreatment by the Israeli military was a clear intimidation tactic and described an omnipresent fear of violence.

Adrien Berthel, a 33-year-old, recounted being transported by boat to a "barge where we found ourselves among about 180 prisoners."

"Large containers had been arranged to form a sort of closed square," said Berthel, a web designer.

Prisoners "had to go through them one by one, in complete darkness, where three soldiers were waiting to slap us, kick us, and hit us with rifle butts," he added.

According to his retelling, the web designer felt "suddenly afraid I might be sexually assaulted" by Israeli soldiers.

In the containers, conditions were no better.

"There was not enough water or toilets for everyone. Regularly, they would throw stun grenades at us to force us back into a tighter corner," he explained:

Two other activists described how their small boat carrying seven people – including a Moroccan, a Spaniard and some South Americans – was suddenly surrounded.

Under Israeli escort, they were taken to the prison ship, where they were forced to lie down on a deck flooded with water before men and women were separated.

They described equally horrific conditions on the ship: insufficient water, two toilets for nearly 200 people and no care for the wounded.

They recounted the physical and emotional scars of the beatings.

Stories told by the 44 Spanish activists who returned on Saturday included similar elements.

They arrived on three separate flights to Barcelona, Bilbao and Madrid.

In Barcelona, hundreds of people were waiting for them, waving Palestinian flags and holding signs as cameras filmed their arrival.

Four Spanish activists from the flotilla had received medical treatment in Turkey.

"We were intercepted, boarded, tortured, held captive, humiliated and deported," Mi Hoa Lee, one of the activists, explained.

"The escalation of violence was abysmal. They took us to a military prison ship, fully equipped to torture us."

She described how her passport was confiscated before she was taken into what she calls "the tunnel of terror and torture."

"Four soldiers from the Israeli occupation forces beat me," she said.

"They also electrocuted me with a taser. They told us they were going to kill us. A comrade was locked in a room with a dog that bit her. There was sexual violence. Flash grenades tore up feet."

On May 20, Israel's Ben-Gvir provoked international outcry after releasing a video showing dozens of European activists from the pro-Palestinian Global Sumud Flotilla kneeling face down with their hands restrained.

The reaction from the Spanish authorities was particularly strong.

Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares described the footage as "monstrous, inhuman and unworthy."

He also demanded a public apology from Israel and summoned the occupied entity's chargé d'affaires.

On his X account on May 20, Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that he planned to take the issue to Brussels in an attempt to secure a ban on Israeli security minister Ben-Gvir entering European Union territory.

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