A group of activists and politicians deported from Israel for being part of an aid flotilla to Gaza expressed their fears for their fellow activists still in Israel, according to Reuters.
Twenty-one mainly Spanish detainees landed in Madrid on Sunday and were seen hugging relieved relatives and supporters in video published by the news agency.
Goretti Sarasibar, one of the returning activists, told Reuters the group was released from their cells in the morning and taken to a yard where they were forced to watch images of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
“Now we are super happy eating, as we were starving,” he said. “They didn’t give us food all day.”
Fellow deportee Rafael Borrego showed the handcuff marks on his wrists and described the jail conditions in a Reuters video.
Juan Bordera, a Spanish lawmaker and activist, said “we fear” for the remaining prisoners, echoing previous reports of harrowing conditions at the jail such as “rotten food,” undrinkable water and beatings with some prisoners resorting to hunger strikes.
Dutch activist Marco Tesh added:
They were among the 437 activists, including Greta Thunberg, arrested last week aboard the Global Sumud flotilla, a coalition of more than 40 humanitarian aid vessels.
Responding to earlier reports the activists had been mistreated, Israel’s foreign ministry said the claims were “brazen lies.”
