Brazilian activist Thiago Avila, who was detained after his arrest on the Gaza-bound ship “Madleen,” has begun a hunger strike, the Israeli human rights organization and legal center Adalah said Tuesday.
Israeli forces seized the ship in international waters early Monday, detaining 12 activists from several countries as they tried to reach the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid to challenge the Israeli blockade.
The activists included citizens of Brazil, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Turkey.
Four of the 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 in Givon prison in Ramla, Israel.
The eight appeared before a detention court in Ramla on Tuesday, facing deportation orders issued by the Israeli Interior Ministry, Adalah said.
Adalah’s legal team, comprising lawyers Hadeel Abu Salea, Lubne Tomu and volunteer lawyer Afnan Khalif, argued during a five-hour hearing that Israel’s interception of the Madleen, a ship part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition that was trying to break the blockade of Gaza, violated international law.
The team argued that the activists were forcibly brought to Israel from international waters, calling 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 a violation of interim measures issued by the International Court of Justice in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. They argued that the activists were acting within their legal rights to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, where residents face the risk of starvation.
The legal team demanded the activists’ immediate and unconditional release and their return to the Madleen to complete their mission to deliver aid to Gaza before returning to their home countries.
They argued that Israel had no jurisdiction because the vessel was intercepted in international waters, making the detentions and deportation orders unlawful, according to the center.
The detained activists said they had been “kidnapped” and forcibly brought to Israel, stressing that their sole purpose was to break the Israeli siege and deliver aid to Gazans.
They also complained of unsanitary conditions in detention, including bedbugs and undrinkable tap water.
Israeli authorities have asked a court to detain the activists until their deportation under Israel’s Entry Law, which allows for detention of up to 72 hours for those who refuse to leave voluntarily.
The center reiterated its call for the activists’ immediate release and return to their home countries, pending a court ruling.
The Israeli military, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has been conducting an offensive in Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 55,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
In November last year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide charge before the International Court of Justice over the war in the Palestinian enclave, AA writes.
