Gaza Flotilla Activist Begins Hunger Strike as Israel Detains Eight, Deports Four

By Palestine Chronicle Staff
June 11, 2025

Israeli authorities reportedly asked the court to keep the activists detained until their deportation under Israel’s Entry Law, which allows up to 72-hour detentions for those refusing voluntary departure.

Brazilian activist Thiago Avila, who was detained aboard the Gaza-bound aid ship Madleen, has begun a hunger and water strike, the Israeli-based independent human rights organization and legal center Adalah said on Tuesday.

Israeli forces seized the vessel in international waters early on Monday, detaining 12 activists from several countries while they were attempting to reach the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid to challenge an Israeli blockade.

The activists included citizens from Brazil, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Türkiye.

Five-Hour Hearing

Four activists were deported from Israel on Tuesday, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, while the remaining eight, who refused to sign deportation orders, are being held at Givon Prison in Ramla, Israel.

The activists in Israeli custody are Suayb Ordu from Türkiye, Mark van Rennes from the Netherlands, Rima Hassan, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi, and Reva Viard from France, Thiago Avila from Brazil, and Yasemin Acar from Germany.

The eight appeared before a Ramla detention court on Tuesday, facing deportation orders issued by Israel’s Interior Ministry, Adalah noted.

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Adalah’s legal team, consisting of attorneys Hadeel Abu Saleh, Lubna Toma and volunteer lawyer Afnan Khalifa, argued during the five-hour hearing that Israel’s interception of the Madleen, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition aiming to break Gaza’s blockade, violated international law, the Anadolu news agency reported.

‘Collective Punishment’

The team contended that the activists were forcibly brought to Israel from international waters, labeling them “illegal infiltrators” without legal basis, Adalah said.

The lawyers condemned Israel’s blockade of Gaza as an unlawful act of collective punishment aimed at starving civilians and violating interim measures issued by the International Court of Justice in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, Anadolu reported.

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They asserted the activists acted within their legal rights to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, where residents face famine risks.

The legal team demanded the activists’ immediate, unconditional release and their return to the Madleen to complete their mission of delivering aid to Gaza before returning to their home countries.

Lack of Jurisdiction

They argued that Israel lacks jurisdiction, as the vessel was intercepted in international waters, rendering the detentions and deportation orders unlawful, according to the center.

The detained activists reported being “kidnapped” and forcibly brought to Israel, emphasizing that their sole aim was to break the Israeli siege and deliver aid to Gazans, Adalah said.

They also complained of unhygienic conditions while in detention, including bed bugs and undrinkable tap water.

Israeli authorities asked the court to keep the activists detained until their deportation under Israel’s Entry Law, which allows up to 72-hour detentions for those refusing voluntary departure.

Arbitrary Detention

On Wednesday, Adalah accused the Israeli Detention Review Tribunal of enabling the authorities “to extend detention arbitrarily, potentially for one month, until 8 July, 2025, without any further judicial oversight” by setting a follow-up custody review for the activists on July 8, “in clear violation of international law.”

“The Madleen volunteers’ continued custodial detention is completely unlawful,” Adalah said in a statement.

“The volunteers must be released immediately and safely returned, either to the Madleen to resume their humanitarian mission to Gaza or to their countries of origin,” it added.

Deprived of Sleep

The deported French doctor, Baptiste André, told reporters upon his return to France that Israeli authorities were abusive toward the activists, in particular Greta Thunberg, Politico reported.

According to the report, André said that “while there were no acts of physical violence, he witnessed Israeli border agents mock and deliberately deprive passengers of sleep, in particular Thunberg.”

He noted that as soon as someone fell asleep, “agents would turn up the music and dance,” the report said.

Threatened with Violence

Al Jazeera journalist Omar Faiad said he was held in a room with Greta, and as soon as she “wanted to sleep or rest a little … an officer would come into the room and in a loud voice call out to her ‘Greta, don’t sleep, it is prohibited.’”

“They tried to tire us out as much as possible before we leave,” he added.

He said those who refused to sign the deportation papers were threatened with violence.

He said he heard an Israeli officer “directly threatening” Rima Hassan, the EU MP: “I’ll smash your head against the wall if you don’t sign. We’ll handle this our own way.”

The ship had set sail from Sicily, Italy, on June 6, for Gaza in an attempt to break an Israeli naval blockade on the enclave, where nearly 55,000 people have been killed in an ongoing military operation since October 2023. (PC, Anadolu)

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