Israeli court rejects appeal of two detained Gaza aid flotilla activists

An Israeli court has rejected an appeal for the release of two pro-Palestine foreign activists who were kidnapped by the regime’s forces during an attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in international waters.

Israeli naval forces targeted vessels from the Global Sumud Flotilla’s Spring 2026 mission, which aimed to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza and deliver essential aid, off the coast of Greece in the Mediterranean Sea on April 30.

Spanish national of Palestinian origin Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila were among dozens of activists who were kidnapped during the attack. The two were brought to Israel for questioning, while the others were taken to the Greek island of Crete and released.

Adalah, the rights group representing Avila and Abu Keshek, who are both on hunger strike, said Israel’s Beersheba District Court on Wednesday upheld an earlier court decision to extend the detention of the two pro-Palestine activists to Sunday morning.

Adalah maintains that this decision is “both unlawful and unreasonable”, noting that the activists are being held in “total isolation under punitive conditions despite the purely civilian nature of their mission”.

The two activists had appeared in the district court, their feet shackled, an AFP journalist said.

Abu Keshek looked exhausted and sat with his hands clasped in his lap, while Avila seemed calm, according to the journalist.

"As we said from the first day, we're talking about an illegal arrest that took place in international waters where the activists were kidnapped by the Israeli navy without any authority," Adalah lawyer Hadeel Abu Salih said after the hearing on Wednesday.

"It's so concerning that also the legal system is giving a free hand for the Israeli forces to continue with this illegal arrest in a way that would give it also legitimacy to do it again and again and kidnap international nationals."

Adalah has also slammed the Israeli authorities for subjecting the detained men to continuous abuse.

"Saif basically told us that he stopped drinking water in addition to the hunger strike he started on Thursday morning," Abu Salih said.

"They are also telling us that they keep interrogating them for most of the time, most of the day, and the questions keep going around the same context, which is the humanitarian mission context."

Adalah had earlier said that the two men were being held in "total isolation, subjected to 24/7 high-intensity lighting in their cells and kept blindfolded whenever they were moved, including during medical examinations".

Spain, Brazil and the United Nations have called for their swift release.

"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," UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement.

On Sunday, the flotilla, comprised of more than 50 vessels carrying activists from multiple countries, set sail from Italy towards Gaza, where Israel’s genocidal war has killed 72,599 Palestinians and injured 172,411 others.

A similar operation in October saw Israeli forces intercept around 40 flotilla boats, detaining more than 450 participants, including the grandson of South African leader Nelson Mandela, Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, and European Parliament member Rima Hassan.

Some of those detained later reported physical and psychological abuse in custody. The regime subsequently deported the activists.

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