The Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy calls for the immediate release of the international activists detained after the interception of vessels belonging to the Global Sumud Flotilla, following a decision to extend the detention of several of them. The move deepens their suffering and raises concern over their conditions in detention facilities.
The center notes that the continued detention of the activists, including Thiago Ávila and Saif Abu Keshk, despite the absence of clear charges, reflects an intention to keep them in custody, particularly in light of repeated extension orders that prolong their detention without clarity over their fate.
The center affirms that these activists were on a humanitarian mission aimed at breaking the naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip and delivering a message of solidarity with its residents. However, their journey ended in detention instead of being allowed to complete their mission.
The center has received testimonies indicating that the detainees have been subjected to beatings, physical and verbal abuse, insults, and harsh and degrading detention conditions, including isolation, restraints, and physical and verbal assaults. These reports raise serious concerns about their situation inside detention centers.
The center warns that extending their detention under these circumstances further compounds the activists’ suffering, especially as interrogations continue and some have launched hunger strikes in protest against their detention and the ill-treatment they are facing.
In this context, the center points out that these practices reflect the broader reality faced by Palestinian prisoners inside prisons, where they endure ongoing suffering, including medical neglect, solitary confinement, and administrative detention without clear charges. This comes alongside growing calls for harsher laws, including measures that could amount to the death penalty, further worsening the dangerous conditions faced by prisoners in general.
The center stresses the urgent need to release all detained activists, halt attacks against them, and guarantee their safety in order to put an end to their ongoing suffering.
The Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy
Sunday, May 3, 2026
