ISLAMABAD: Brazilian activist Thiago Avila has accused Israeli forces of rape, torture, and severe abuse against detained Gaza flotilla activists following the interception of a humanitarian aid convoy headed toward Gaza.
In a video statement shared on X, Avila said activists detained aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla were subjected to violence and sexual assault while being transferred by Israeli forces after the flotilla was intercepted in international waters.
"There is no easy way to say it, but I have to say people got raped," Avila said in the video. "Those monstrous soldiers, they raped participants. It was not one, not two, not three, it's many cases of sexual violence against our participants."
"Many people with broken ribs, many people with broken bones, the arms, the collar bones," he said, describing Israeli authorities as "a genocidal state that takes pleasure in violence."
Activists describe torture
Belgian activist Julien Cabral said the activists were beaten, restrained and denied proper medical treatment during detention.
Speaking after arriving in Istanbul, Cabral said Israeli forces boarded their vessel in international waters and used violence despite activists raising their hands, AFP reported.
"I took a punch to the left temple," he said, adding that detainees were transferred with plastic ties around their hands onto what he described as a 'prison ship'.
"My hands were tied so long I almost vomited", one activist recounted.
Avila also claimed that evidence and medical examinations were being collected for possible legal action before international courts, including the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
"All the 428 people here are doing medical examinations. We are doing reports. This will all become legal cases," he said.
"This needs to go everywhere, don't let this be normalized."
Some 430 activists from countries around the world had been placed in detention in Israel after they were intercepted at sea on Monday while making the latest in a string of attempts to break the blockade of the Palestinian territory, AFP reported.
Human rights groups and UN experts have previously raised concerns over allegations of abuse and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody, although Israel has denied systematic abuse allegations.
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked widespread condemnation and diplomatic backlash on Wednesday by posting a video showing the detained activists with their hands tied and foreheads on the ground.
Israel said on Thursday it had deported all the foreign activists seized by Israeli forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla, following global outcry over their treatment in custody.
Avila also referred to Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons, claiming conditions faced by flotilla activists represented "only a small fraction" of what Palestinians experience in detention.
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