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On Wednesday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted a video on X showing himself taunting Global Sumud Flotilla activists who had been kidnapped by Israel after attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The video shows Israeli security agents physically assaulting an activist who says “Free Palestine,” pushing the flotilla member to the ground. Ben Gvir taunts the detained activists, waving an Israeli flag in front of them and shouting, “Welcome to Israel, we are the landlords,” while dozens of detained activists are shown kneeling with their hands restrained behind their backs. Throughout the video, masked security agents violently move activists while forcing their heads down, at what appears to be a makeshift detention center at the Ashdod port.
“Our activists are being subjected to violent abuse after being illegally abducted at sea while attempting to break the siege on Gaza,” wrote the Global Sumud Flotilla on X.
The activists were abducted by Israel in international waters on Tuesday, when Israeli forces intercepted 50 boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla near Cyprus and detained all 430 activists aboard the flotilla. The Global Sumud Flotilla released videos of Israeli soldiers shooting at the boats before raiding them, and said that at least five of its boats had been shot at by Israeli forces. Israel denied that it had fired any shots.
The flotilla had departed from Turkey last Thursday in a renewed attempt to reach Gaza, which remains under Israeli siege and continues to face regular Israeli bombardments and assaults despite the supposed ceasefire. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, since the start of Israel’s genocide in 2023, Israel has killed more than 72,700 people in Gaza — and 881 of them have been killed since the start of the October 2025 ceasefire.
Late on Tuesday, the Global Sumud Flotilla announced that, “In protest of their illegal abduction and in solidarity with the over 9,500 Palestinian hostages held in Israeli dungeons, at least 87 participants committed to a hunger strike.” Detained activists on the Global Sumud Flotilla are from at least 46 countries.
Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said that Israel was “employing a criminal policy of abuse and humiliation against activists.”
“The Israeli military and security apparatus have always operated in this manner,”’ Ilaria Salis, an Italian left-wing member of the European Parliament, wrote on X. “Not to mention the level of dehumanization and torture reserved for Palestinian and Arab prisoners. But the truly mind-boggling thing is that they no longer even try to hide it; they’re not ashamed of it anymore.”
“Ben Gvir,” she continued, “in his brutality, is at least transparent about his intentions.” Israel’s goal is clear, she said, and that is “to rule through sheer terror.”
Later on Wednesday, Italy and France summoned their Israeli ambassadors to express their “indignation” over Israel’s treatment of the abducted Gaza flotilla activists, according to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
“The images of Israeli Minister Ben Gvir are unacceptable,” said Meloni, who has faced major pressure over Palestine in Italy, including in the form of multiple general strikes. “It is unacceptable that these protesters, including many Italian citizens, are subjected to this treatment that violates their human dignity.”
The Trump administration, on the other hand, has moved to smear activists on the flotilla. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on four activists who have been part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, baselessly conflating them with Hamas. According to Al Jazeera, flotilla organizers fear that these sanctions will legitimize greater Israeli violence and abuse of activists detained by Israel.
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