The activist was part of a flotilla with the aim of breaking the Israeli blockade of Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid to the war-torn Palestinian territory.
Israel deported the activists this Sunday (10) Brazilian Thiago Ávila and Palestinian-Spanish Saif Abu Keshek, detained when trying to reach the Gaza Strip with a humanitarian flotilla.
Ávila and Abu Keshek were among dozens of activists to aboard a flotilla intercepted by the Israeli Army on April 30 in international waters, off the coast of Greece.
Both were detained by Israeli forces and taken to Israel for interrogation, while the rest were taken to the Greek island of Crete and released.
“Once the investigation was concluded, the two professional provocateurs, Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Ávila, from the provocation flotilla, were deported from Israel today,” the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday.
The ministry did not mention the accusations of “belonging to a terrorist organization”, which led to the two men spending more than a week in prison.
The flotilla, which initially consisted of around fifty vessels, had left from France, Spain and Italy with the aim to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to the war-torn Palestinian territory.
His detention hundreds of kilometers from the Israeli coast was declared “illegal” and “outside all jurisdiction” by the Spanish government. The UN demanded his “immediate release”.
Detention without evidence
Israel will “not allow any violation” of the Gaza sea blockadethe ministry reiterated in its message.
Spain, Brazil and the United Nations had called for the quick release of the detainees, and on Wednesday an Israeli court rejected an appeal against their detention.
“From their abduction in international waters to their illegal detention in complete isolation and the mistreatment to which they were subjected, the actions of the Israeli authorities were a punitive attack against a purely civilian mission,” he declared after their release to Adalah, the Israeli NGO that legally represented them.
“The use of detention and interrogation against activists and human rights defenders is an unacceptable attempt to suppress global solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza,” he added.
During his arrest in the coastal city of Ashkelon, in southern Israel, the Adalah denounced “ill-treatment” and “psychological abuse”, as well as eight-hour interrogationsintense lighting in the cell 24 hours a day, total isolation and systematic movements blindfolded, including during medical visits.
Israeli authorities have rejected these accusations. According to Spanish diplomats, Israel did not provide them with “any proof” of Saif Abu Keshek’s alleged link with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that governs Gaza.
The first voyage of the so-called Sumud Global Flotilla last year was also intercepted by Israeli forces off the coasts of Egypt and Gaza.
Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, which has remained under Israeli blockade since 2007.
During the war in Gaza, which began in October 2023, the shortage of supplies in the territory worsened, and Israel even, at times, completely cut off humanitarian aid.
