Istanbul, MINA – A British activist from the Global Sumud Flotilla has accused Israel of mistreating participants detained during a recent naval assault and denounced the country’s ongoing abuses against Palestinians, Anadolu Agency reported.
A plane carrying activists from the humanitarian flotilla, which was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters, landed at Istanbul Airport on Saturday afternoon. The flight departed from Ramon Airport in Eilat, Israel, and arrived at 3:50 p.m. local time (12:50 GMT).
Among the 137 passengers were 36 Turkish and 23 Malaysian citizens. They were part of the international flotilla that sought to deliver aid to Gaza before being seized by the Israeli navy.
Kieran Andrieu, a British activist with Palestinian roots, told Anadolu that he joined the mission because “there is no greater issue facing humanity right now than the genocide in Gaza and the kind of persecution that Israel subjects Palestinians to every single day.”
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“Israel tried to put us in prisoner clothes, but we were not prisoners; we were captains, we were hostages,” Andrieu said. “That’s what Israel does to Palestinians every single day.”
He described harsh detention conditions, including the denial of medical assistance and the provision of contaminated food. “Yesterday night we were shouting that possibly someone was having a heart attack. They didn’t come. They didn’t care. They gave us food that was infested with insects. They subjected some people to torture,” he recounted.
Andrieu emphasized that the treatment of European detainees offered a glimpse of Israel’s everyday oppression of Palestinians. “If this is how Israel behaves towards Europeans, you can only imagine how it treats Palestinians every single day,” he added. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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