The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society confirmed on Friday that the Israeli occupation authorities are holding activists from the Global Freedom Flotilla in the Naqab Desert Prison — one of Israel’s harshest detention centres, notorious for grave abuses against Palestinian detainees.
In a statement, the organisation described Naqab Prison as a site where hundreds of crimes and violations have been documented against Palestinian prisoners. Thousands of detainees, including many from the Gaza Strip, have been imprisoned there.
The statement added that a number of Palestinian detainees have died inside the prison as a result of torture and severe beatings carried out by Israeli repression units.
Seizure of the Freedom Flotilla
Over the past 48 hours, Israeli forces seized 42 ships belonging to the Freedom Flotilla while sailing in international waters towards Gaza. Hundreds of international activists on board were detained, with Israel later declaring its intention to deport them back to Europe.
On Thursday evening, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir arrived at the detention site in the coastal city of Ashdod. Footage showed the activists forced to sit on the ground, awaiting transfer to detention centres.
The Prisoners’ Society noted that the videos published by Ben Gvir were not the first of their kind, recalling previous incidents where he appeared inside Naqab and other prisons, issuing threats against Palestinian prisoners and showcasing methods of humiliation and abuse.
Systematic Violations in Israeli Prisons
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society stressed that the violations committed by Israel’s prison system have surpassed all international laws and norms, turning these facilities into “arenas of systematic extermination, especially in the past two years.”
The abuse of the international solidarity activists, the statement said, is merely an extension of this entrenched policy of repression and dehumanisation.
The Freedom Flotilla had announced on Wednesday via its X platform account that it was attacked by around 10 Israeli naval vessels in international waters. The organisers issued a distress call, condemning the assault as a war crime.
