Israel faces growing pressure over alleged abuse of Gaza flotilla members

Israel faces mounting international outrage over allegations of rape, beatings and humiliation of international activists detained on a flotilla attempting to break its naval blockade of Gaza .

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A string of countries, including France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands, have called out the alleged abuse of their nationals after Israeli commandos boarded and detained participants of the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters last month.

At least 67 out of the roughly 420 people detained on the flotilla trying to deliver symbolic aid to the battered Palestinian enclave were taken to the hospital after their captivity, and 12 were ultimately hospitalized, according to flotilla organizers.

Organizers said participants recounted how Israeli forces fired “rubber” bullets at them at close range, used tasers on faces and upper bodies, and threw stun grenades into groups. Other allegations included being forced to hold stress positions for hours, women having their hijabs forcibly removed and enduring “humiliating strip searches, sexual taunting, groping and pulling of genitals and multiple counts of rape.” Anal rape and “forcible penetration by a handgun” were also among the allegations.

Several flotilla members had broken bones, with one captain, Arno Meys, suffering a punctured lung that prevented him from flying for at least a month, organizers said. A second member had a broken foot and a third a broken leg, with the same patient being monitored over concerns of internal bleeding and cardiac arrhythmia, they said.

French ⁠Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said last week that he had received reports of “sexual violence, exposure to the cold, beatings, and repeated humiliation of French nationals.”

The alleged abuses were ‌likely to constitute criminal offenses, he told France Inter radio on Friday, according to Reuters. France last week asked for its public prosecutor, which presents cases in court, to investigate the treatment of French nationals detained by Israel after being part of the flotilla.

The Israel Defense Forces rejected allegations of abuse by Israeli soldiers during what it described as operations to protect its “naval security blockade” of Gaza. It said the “IDF orders require respectful and appropriate treatment of flotilla participants on the intercepted vessels, and there are clear and established procedures in this regard.”

Similarly, the Israeli Prison Service “categorically” rejected the allegations of abuse, including sexual abuse.

All the international detainees have been released, according to flotilla organizers.

The condemnation by governments allied to Israel came after far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted video showing him taunting flotilla members as they were restrained. Some can be seen with their hands tied behind their backs, kneeling with their heads touching the floor. One person, standing, is pushed to the ground by a security member after shouting “Free Palestine.”

“It is unacceptable that these protesters, including many Italian citizens, should be subjected to treatment that violates human dignity,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said after the video emerged.

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares called Ben-Gvir’s treatment of flotilla members “monstrous” as he announced in a post on X that the Israeli charge d’affaires had been summoned.

Israel’s own leadership condemned Ben-Gvir’s actions, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose coalition government relies on support from Ben-Gvir’s far-right Jewish Power party, calling his national security minister’s actions “not in line with Israel’s values or norms.”

A spokesperson for Ben-Gvir declined to comment when asked about the criticism.

While members of past flotillas bound for Gaza have previously reported abuse by Israeli authorities after their vessels were intercepted, Adil Haque, a professor of law at Rutgers Law School said the Ben-Gvir video was a “wake-up call” for the global community. This was especially the case because it showed an Israeli minister appearing to be “proud of the abuse” captured on camera, said Haque, who writes on the law and ethics of armed conflict.

But he and others, including flotilla organizers, said the treatment of the flotilla activists should not eclipse the far larger number of allegations of mistreatment of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli military and prison authorities.

It was “important to underscore” that the United Nations and human rights groups, including Israeli rights groups, have been investigating allegations by Palestinian detainees of being abused, including sexually abused, by Israeli authorities in the years since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks, he said.

“So that itself is not new,” he said. “What may be shifting is public attention, and that is partly a function of the fact that Minister Ben-Gvir saw fit to videotape himself abusing and humiliating some of these activists.”

His comments came after the United Nations last week revealed it had added both Israel and Russia to a blacklist for sexual violence in conflict over abuses by security forces, including the rape of male detainees.

The U.N. said both had been “put on notice for potential listing in the next reporting period” last year, when Hamas was added to the world body’s previous “Conflict-related Sexual Violence” report, with the organization citing allegations of sexual violence from 12 former hostages released from the Gaza Strip.

In its report published last Friday , the U.N. said it had verified the sexual abuse of at least 31 Palestinian men, women and children from the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank from 2023 to 2025. The U.N.’s methodology for verification is not outlined in the document.

“Violations consisted of rape, including with objects, gang rape, attempted rape, physical violence to the genitals, instances of targeted shooting of the genitals, touching of breasts and genitals, strip and cavity searches conducted without apparent security justification, forced nudity and threats of rape,” it said .

In one high-profile case, the Israeli military said in March that it was dropping charges against five soldiers accused of gang raping a Palestinian detainee — the alleged assault being partially captured on camera.

Video of the incident aired by Israeli media showed soldiers moving a Palestinian detainee to the side of an enclosure of Sde Teiman military base and detention center. Some of the soldiers held up shields that obscured the view of what exactly was happening to the detainee, but video showed him doubled over and stumbling as he was later led away. The subsequent indictment alleged the soldiers had sodomized the prisoner with a knife and caused multiple and serious internal injuries, according to The Associated Press. It was not clear if the case was among those included in the U.N. report.

The incident was alleged to have occurred July 5, 2024. Following the release of the video, then-Biden administration State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said “we have seen the video, and reports of sexual abuse of detainees are horrific.”

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., said the country had cut ties with Secretary-General António Guterres’ office over the country’s blacklisting, rejected the sexual abuse allegations, and accused Guterres of disseminating “antisemitic lies.”

The U.N. report added that the cases it verified should be seen as “indicative of incidents and patterns” rather than a comprehensive view of the reality under Israeli detention “given the continued denial of access by the Government of Israel to detention settings, as well as to Gaza.”

According to HaMoked , an Israeli human rights organization that provides free legal aid to Palestinians, there were more than 9,300 people in Israeli prisons in May. More than 3,300 of them were being held under “administrative detention,” a widely condemned practice under which Israeli authorities hold people indefinitely without trial or other usual legal proceedings often based on alleged secret evidence.

Other neutral monitors, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, have also said they have been blocked from visiting Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention since Oct. 7, 2023, amid repeated warnings from human rights groups of dire conditions for prisoners and detainees.

That could be set to change this week after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the country must allow visits to Palestinian prisoners by the ICRC following a petition against the ban, according to Reuters .

International law experts noted that while scrutiny appeared to be growing over Israel’s treatment of detainees, there has yet to be any significant action taken on the global stage.

“It’s the responsibility of Israel, first instance, to fully investigate and prosecute those acts,” Stephen J. Rapp, who served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues from 2009 to 2015, said in a phone interview Monday.

And so far, he said, “that hasn’t happened.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center. You can also access RAINN’s online chat service at rainn.org/get-help.