UN demands Israel release activists seized on Gaza aid flotilla immediately
Al Jazeera English
The UN human rights office demanded Israel immediately and unconditionally release two humanitarian activists detained while traveling to Gaza, and called for an investigation into allegations of severe mistreatment. The activists, Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago de Avila, are being held without formal charges after their vessel was intercepted in international waters.
The United Nations has urged Israel to immediately release two humanitarian aid activists detained by Israeli authorities last week while traveling to Gaza, and called for an investigation into ‘worrying allegations of severe mistreatment’.
Thameen al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, said in a statement on May 7 that Israel must ‘immediately and unconditionally’ free activists Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago de Avila, who are being held without formal charges. The two, citizens of Spain and Brazil, were among dozens of activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla bound for Gaza. Israeli forces intercepted the vessel in international waters off Greece on April 30.
According to flotilla organizers, only Abu Keshek and de Avila were taken to Israel and remain detained. ‘Showing solidarity and striving to bring humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine in Gaza, who desperately need assistance, is not a crime,’ al-Kheetan stressed. ‘The alarming allegations of severe mistreatment against Abu Keshek and Avila must be investigated, and those responsible must be brought to justice.’
An Israeli court on May 6 extended their detention until May 10. The flotilla organizers said the two are on a hunger strike, consuming only water since their arrest last week. No formal charges have been filed, but they face allegations including links to ‘terrorist organizations and contact with foreign agents,’ according to Israel’s Adalah human rights organization, which represents them legally, as previously reported to Al Jazeera. Adalah said Abu Keshek and Avila suffered severe physical abuse in custody, which it called ‘torture.’
On the same day, May 7, Thiago de Avila's mother, Teresa Regina de Avila e Silva, died in the capital Brasilia at age 63, according to a flotilla statement on social media platform X. ‘She was a woman full of joy and immense strength,’ the statement read. ‘She faced years of severe illness with courage, serenity, and dignity, driven by a fierce will to live and surrounded by the unconditional dedication of her family.’
The Global Sumud Flotilla made its first journey to Gaza in August and September last year, drawing global attention before being intercepted by Israeli forces in waters off Egypt and Gaza in early October. Crew members, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were detained and deported from Israel.
In his statement, al-Kheetan also called for an end to Israel's use of arbitrary detention and ‘broadly and vaguely defined anti-terror laws that are inconsistent with international human rights law.’ He emphasized the need to end the blockade on Gaza and allow full-scale humanitarian aid into the territory.
