Israeli pirates torture international hostages, who respond with hunger strike.

A group of civilians recently sought to take aid to Gaza by sea with the Freedom Flotilla. Israeli occupation pirates, however, illegaly abducted them in international waters on 9 June. The kidnappers have proceeded to torture some hostages – including European Parliament member Rima Hassan – with solitary confinement. Hassan and Brazilian hostage Thiago Ávila also launched a hunger strike in response to their unlawful treatment.

🚨 Messages from Rima and other members of the Freedom Flotilla crew.#FreedomFlotilla #FreeMadleen pic.twitter.com/4Wy9eii972

— Rima Hassan (@RimaHas) June 11, 2025

Freedom Flotilla latest

Israeli pirates confined the Madleen Freedom Flotilla hostages offshore with no outside contact for over half a day before taking them to the apartheid state. They had reportedly deprived the captives of sleep. Under pressure, some would accept a deportation deal. Others, meanwhile, opted to “contest their deportation” despite apparent threats of ‘hitting their heads against the wall‘.

"If you’re not careful, the media will have you hating the oppressed and loving the ones who are doing the oppressing." Malcolm X#FreedomFlotilla #Freemadleen pic.twitter.com/JeCoFR834A

— Rima Hassan (@RimaHas) June 10, 2025

The Freedom Flotilla hostages were trying to take aid to occupied Gaza, where Israel has been committing what scholars overwhelmingly agree is a genocide, the current phase of which is a brutal starvation campaign.

Governments and mainstream media outlets, meanwhile, have essentially given Israel the green light to mistreat the hostages. French opposition leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon condemned Israel’s piracy and slammed the inaction of France’s government. And Europe’s hypocrisy was plain for all to see:

Imagine if Russia did this!

Total silence from @EUinIsrael and @EP_President as @RimaHas, a French member of the European Parliament, remains kidnapped and subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment tantamount to torture by the Zionist genocide regime. @GazaFFlotilla pic.twitter.com/jhxiqy67Vj

— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) June 11, 2025

The silence of EU institutions over the unlawful detention and punitive conditions imposed on EU citizens including MEP @RimaHas speaks volumes to the deep roots of Israelism in European institutional culture. https://t.co/CtRlot3B55

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) June 11, 2025

Ávila reportedly began his hunger and water strike on 9 June. Others, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said, reported “unsanitary conditions, including bed bug infestations and no access to safe drinking water”.

In an update on 11 June, the FFC stated that Israeli captors had taken Hassan out of solitary confinement. She had received punishment for writing “Free Palestine” on a prison wall. Ávila, meanwhile, remained “in isolation in Ayalon Prison due to his ongoing hunger and thirst strike”. His wife spoke about how Israeli forces had subjected him to “the psychological torment of isolation without light or ventilation”.

“Daddy has been trying to bring food to other children as beautiful as you”

Ávila wrote a letter for his 1-year-old daughter saying:

I’m sorry I’m not around with you these days, but Daddy has been trying to bring food to other children as beautiful as you who unfortunately are being starved by people who don’t understand that every single human being has the right to live free, to be happy in their communities, to access food, water, and everything else that is needed to survive.

Lara, speaking from Brazil, has had no contact with her husband, Thiago Ávila, since he was abducted and detained illegally by Israeli forces from the 'Madleen'.

Since then, @thiagoavilabr has been placed in solitary confinement, denied communication with his family.… pic.twitter.com/S19ZAIowK3

— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) June 11, 2025

Ávila also highlighted the importance of the “millions of people who are now doing something to stop the biggest violation of our generation”.

The expectation is that Israel will soon expel the Freedom Flotilla hostages from the apartheid state. But the settler-colonial power, however, is now threatening to escalate regional conflict yet again with a new attack on Iran. And its brutal stranglehold on Gaza seems to be intensifying as people around the world become more and more aware of its war crimes and stand up in solidarity with the Palestinian people with bolder actions.

International activists, for example, are meeting in Egypt ahead of a massive march to Gaza. They plan to reach Gaza by 15 June via the Sinai desert, though it’s unclear if the Egyptian regime will allow this to happen.

Featured image via the Canary