Two Australian activists have claimed they were “brutalised psychologically” by the Israeli military, strip-searched and shackled, after their Freedom Flotilla boat was intercepted.
Journalist Tania Safi and activist Robert Martin were detained while onboard the Handala, which was seeking to deliver aid to Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
After their arrest alongside 19 other activists on Sunday, the pair were transported to Israel and spent days in Israeli custody, where they allege they were manhandled and treated like criminals.
The Handala was carrying 21 civilians representing 12 countries - including the UK - with parliamentarians, lawyers, journalists, environmentalists, and other human rights defenders among them.
It was carrying aid including baby formula, nappies, food, and medicine for the Gaza strip, where a starvation crisis has prompted international outcry after dozens of Palestinians died from hunger-related causes in recent weeks. Experts, the UN, and other countries say Israeli blockades caused the crisis.
The Israeli government says Hamas is at fault and has accused the Palestinian militants of stealing food from aid trucks.
The two Australian activists landed back in Sydney on Friday morning, where they spoke to reporters about their ordeal.
Ms Safi said at least 30 IDF members boarded Handala when it was intercepted, and claimed all were armed, some with four guns.
“They knocked me in the leg with one of their machine guns,” Ms Safi said of the moment around 30 IDF soldiers boarded the Handala after it was intercepted, speaking to The Guardian.
After being taken to the port of Ashdod south of Tel Aviv, the group was taken to interrogation rooms.
Ms Safi supported earlier allegations by the group that Chris Smalls, the former president of the Amazon Labour Union who was onboard the Handala, was physically assaulted by IDF troops.
“Chris was pinned down by seven or eight men,” she told the outlet. “When I asked about him they came into the room and dragged me out by my arms, I’m still bruised from it.
“They pulled me out and threw me down on the floor, they made me take off all my clothes, they strip-searched me right there, made me squat up and down … they treated us like we were criminals.”
Ms Safi, who said she witnessed “the soullessness and the cruelty and brutality” of Israeli detention, added that soldiers would “handcuff me and grab the handcuffs and just throw me against the wall”.
She said the military tried to get the Handala activists to sign documents which said they had entered Israel illegally, which Ms Safi says is “not true… we were taken completely against our will and brutalised psychologically in every way”.
Mr Martin alleged he was not allowed any of the medication that he required, nor was he allowed to make any phone calls to loved ones and “anybody else” - despite the Australian government demanding to Israel that they were allowed to do so.
They were eventually transported to Jordan, where they were assisted by the Australian embassy and taken to hospital, he added.
The Handala incident came nearly two months after the Madleen, a Freedom Flotilla with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on board, was intercepted by the Israeli army on 9 June.
The IDF has been contacted for comment. In a statement on X after the boat was seized, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the military had prevented the boat from “illegally entering the maritime zone of the coast of Gaza”.
It added: “The vessel is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. All passengers are safe. Unauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts.”
Regarding the alleged assault on Mr Smalls, the Israeli foreign ministry told The Guardian on Thursday: “Contrary to the claims made, the passenger violently resisted. This was a planned provocation intended to create media attention.”
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