Israel-Gaza Tensions: Istanbul Receives Released Gaza Flotilla Activists | WION News

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]The activists from across Europe are returning home with some disturbing accounts of alleged abuse and mistreatment during their detention by the Israelis.

[00:00:09]After the Gaza bound aid flotilla was intercepted by Israel in international waters.

[00:00:15]Eight French nationals returned to Paris on Friday where they were greeted by supporters waving the Palestinian flag and chanting slogans in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

[00:00:26]Two other French activists who'd been on board the flotilla remain hospitalized in Turkey.

[00:00:31]The French activists have described the experience as violent and humiliating.

[00:00:36]In Greece there were emotional scenes that unfolded at the Athens Airport as supporters welcomed home the 19 activists.

[00:00:43]They embraced family members upon arrival while some said that they were beaten and tortured in their detention by Israel.

[00:00:55]I was beaten although not as hard as others. We were subjected to collective tortures during which we were forced to stay in stress position spending hours on our knees listening to the Israeli national anthem. They were moving us around holding us by the head and with our hands tied behind our backs for many hours. They had us walk barefoot. There were warning shots of plastic bullets.

[00:01:18]Others who were hit and couldn't lie down were targeted with laser beams.

[00:01:22]People were shot with plastic bullets.

[00:01:29]I was struck with a taser, beaten with punches and kicks, insulted and humiliated. On the prison ship there was a container that everyone had to pass through. You entered through one door and a group of six or seven people would beat you mercilessly until you emerged from the other side.

[00:01:50]Meanwhile more than 400 flotilla activists arrived in Istanbul after they were released and the controversy has intensified following the of a video featuring the Israeli far-right and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

[00:02:12]Now in the footage that has sparked international outrage, Ben-Gvir was seen mocking and even assaulting one of the detained activists that has drawn criticism from several international leaders and human rights groups.

[00:02:26]Israel for its part has rejected allegations of abuse and torture and has denied mistreatment of those who were detained by the Israelis in international waters.

[00:02:40]The Israeli forces had intercepted the flotilla in international waters earlier in the week. They detained more than 430 people from 50 vessels in an operation that was aimed at preventing this convoy of aid ships from bringing some humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip which remember has again been put under siege and not enough humanitarian aid that is food and medicines are being allowed inside the Gaza Strip for the starving Palestinians.

[00:03:09]Now separately, Italy, France, Britain and Germany have jointly called on Israel to halt the expansion of the illegal Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank.

[00:03:19]In a coordinated statement, the four European nations warned that continued expansion of settlement activity was undermining regional stability and was damaging the prospects of a two-state solution.

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