The Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court on Sunday extended by three days the detention of two foreign pro-Palestinian activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off Greece.
The court extended the detention of Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national, and Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian citizen, who were brought to Israel for interrogation after the interception. The state had sought to extend their detention by four days, said Miriam Azem, international advocacy coordinator at the rights group Adalah, which is representing them.
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Saif Abu Keshek was part of a flotilla of more than 50 vessels that tried to reach Gaza to deliver supplies
(Photo: Amir Cohen/Reuters)
The state accuses the two of aiding the enemy during wartime, providing services to a terrorist organization, membership in a terrorist organization, supplying equipment to a terrorist organization and contact with a foreign agent.
The flotilla of more than 50 vessels had set sail from France, Spain and Italy with the aim of breaking Israel’s blockade of Gaza and bringing supplies to the Palestinian enclave. Israel said it removed 175 activists from the flotilla, two of whom were taken to Israel for questioning.
The two said they had no intention of reaching Gaza or Israel. Organizers said the interception took place more than 620 miles, or 1,000 kilometers, from Gaza, and that activists’ equipment was smashed, leaving them facing what they called a “calculated death trap at sea.”
Dozens of the intercepted activists disembarked Friday on the Greek island of Crete, according to an AFP journalist.
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Thiago Ávila, who along with Saif Abu Keshek was taken to Israel for interrogation after their flotilla was intercepted near Greece
(Photo: Amir Cohen/Reuters)
On Saturday, Adalah said its lawyers had met the two detained activists at Shikma Prison in Ashkelon. The group said Ávila told the lawyers he had been subjected to “extreme brutality” when the vessels were seized, saying he was dragged face-down across the floor and beaten so severely that he passed out twice. Since arriving in Israel, he said, he had been kept in isolation and blindfolded.
Adalah said Abu Keshek was “hand-tied and blindfolded” and forced to lie face-down on the floor from the moment he was seized until he reached Israel.
Attorneys Hadeel Abu Saleh and Lubna Tuma of Adalah asked that a Military Police investigation be opened. They told the court the men were subjected to severe violence while being held by the Navy.
“They were forced to lie on the floor for two days, face down, with their hands tied behind their backs,” the attorneys said.
The Israeli Navy warns members of the Sumud Flotilla to change course
(Video: from social media)
Regarding Abu Keshek, they said marks could be seen on his face and that he had been blindfolded throughout the period. They said he was also being held in isolation at the detention facility, in a room with a thin plastic mattress and no window, and had been on hunger strike since Thursday morning.
The attorneys also said Ávila had previously been barred from Israel because of earlier flotillas he had joined, but that this time the navy itself brought him into Israel.
The Foreign Ministry said the two activists were affiliated with the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, or PCPA, an organization subject to U.S. Treasury sanctions. Washington has accused the group of “clandestinely acting on behalf of Hamas.”
The ministry said Abu Keshek was a leading member of the PCPA, and that Ávila was also linked to the organization and “suspected of illegal activity.” The two deny the allegations.
Spain condemned Abu Keshek’s detention and rejected the Israeli accusation against him.
Contraceptives and narcotics found by Israeli forces on board the Global Sumud Flotilla
(Video: from X)
During cross-examination, the attorneys asked a police representative whether Abu Keshek had denied being a member of the organization. The representative replied, “That is not the case.”
The lawyers also asked the representative to confirm that the group is not designated as a terrorist organization in the suspects’ countries of citizenship, and that the two said they did not belong to any terrorist organization. The police representative said he had no indication of that and that the claims would be checked against the state’s findings.
One of the suspects said during the hearing that he had not been questioned about contact with any person, agent or non-agent. The police representative responded that the suspects’ activity, aimed at reaching Israel’s territorial waters in order to enter Gaza and meet “various elements,” created suspicion of contact with a foreign agent — Hamas operatives.
Asked whether anything had been seized on the ship, police said no such item had been found in the suspect’s possession. “To the best of my knowledge, humanitarian aid was also not found on the ship,” the police representative said.
The defense attorneys argued that the charge of providing services to a terrorist organization cannot apply in territorial waters, and said Israeli authorities had previously acknowledged that point. They said the suspects were not arrested in Israeli territorial waters but in international waters.
They cited a Supreme Court ruling that found no flaw in the attorney general’s decision not to prosecute former lawmakers Hanin Zoabi and Raed Salah over their participation in a flotilla.
The attorneys also argued that, in a previous flotilla several months ago involving three foreign citizens, the suspicions were based on supplying aid to Gaza’s civilian population, but did not establish suspicion of aiding the enemy during wartime, contact with a foreign agent, membership in a terrorist organization or transfer of terrorist property.
“If this is indeed the basis of the investigating unit’s probe, this is an arbitrary investigation,” they argued.
They said the suspects intended to reach Greece, not Israel or Gaza, and that enforcement was entirely selective because about 170 other people were detained and released without investigation. They said the questioning focused on who belonged to the aid organization, who was in its leadership and how the suspects came to join the flotillas.
The attorneys asked the court to release the suspects without conditions.
Judge Amit Yariv said the state had requested a four-day extension for investigative purposes.
“The suspect took part in a flotilla that was stopped not far from Greece’s territorial waters and was brought to Israel by the navy,” Yariv wrote. “The material before me indicates that the suspect also took part in additional activities that are not part of the request before me.”
Yariv said a review of the investigative material, including a classified report, established reasonable suspicion that the suspect committed the offenses attributed to him.
“With all due respect, I did not find that the references presented during the hearing are relevant to the proceeding before me, neither in terms of the factual basis existing at this stage nor in terms of the procedural stage at which the matters should be examined,” the judge wrote.
Yariv said the classified report indicated the suspect posed a level of danger justifying detention at this stage, and that the risk could not be addressed through less restrictive means. He also said necessary investigative steps justified keeping the suspect in custody.
The court ordered the detention extended until May 5, 2026, at noon.
The Global Sumud Flotilla’s first Mediterranean voyage to Gaza in the summer and autumn of 2025 drew worldwide attention. Israeli forces intercepted the boats off the coasts of Egypt and Gaza in early October 2025. Crew members, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were arrested and expelled by Israeli forces.
First published: 13:57, 05.03.26