Overview
- Rome prosecutors opened an investigation into alleged unlawful detention Monday after Israeli forces stopped about 20 flotilla boats in international waters near Crete on Thursday.
- The two activists taken to Israel — Spaniard Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Ávila — were on ships sailing under Italian flags and were handed to Israeli law enforcement for questioning.
- A court in Ashkelon extended their detention by two days on Sunday as Israeli officials alleged links to Hamas and to the People’s Conference for Palestinians in the Diaspora.
- Lawyers with the Israeli rights group Adalah said both men reported severe, “torture-like” abuse in custody and are on hunger strike to protest their detention.
- Spain and Brazil lodged formal protests over what Spain’s foreign minister called an illegal arrest in international waters, while the U.S. has sanctioned the flotilla’s network for alleged Hamas ties.