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Rabat – An Israeli court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by two foreign activists challenging their detention after they were seized by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in international waters while participating in a humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza, their lawyer said.
Spanish national of Palestinian origin Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila were among dozens of people aboard vessels intercepted by the IOF off the coast of Greece last week as part of a flotilla seeking to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver humanitarian aid.
The pair were taken to Israel for questioning, while other activists detained during the operation were transferred to the Greek island of Crete and later released.
A lower Israeli court on Tuesday extended the detention of Abu Keshek and Avila until Sunday to allow further interrogation, according to their lawyers. Their legal team appealed the ruling before the Beersheva District Court, which upheld the decision on Wednesday.
“Today, the district court of Beersheva denied our appeal and basically accepted all of the arguments that the state or the police have represented before the court and kept the previous decision,” lawyer Hadeel Abu Salih told France24 journalists after the hearing.
The two activists appeared in court with shackles on their feet, according to an AFP journalist present at the hearing. Abu Keshek appeared exhausted, while Avila remained composed, the journalist said.
Israeli rights group Adalah, which is representing the men, said their detention was unlawful because the flotilla was intercepted in international waters.
“As we said from the first day, we’re talking about an illegal arrest that took place in international waters where the activists were kidnapped by the Israeli navy without any authority,” Abu Salih said.
“It’s so concerning that also the legal system is giving a free hand for the Israeli forces to continue with this illegal arrest in a way that would give it also legitimacy to do it again and kidnap international nationals,” she added.
Adalah said Israel had not filed formal charges against the men but accused them of offenses including “assisting the enemy during wartime” and “membership in and providing services to a terrorist organization.”
Israel’s foreign ministry has said both activists were allegedly affiliated with the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), which Washington has accused of clandestinely acting on behalf of Hamas.
The rights groups accused the IOF of abusing the detainees, who have been held in harsh detention conditions. Abu Salih said Abu Keshek had stopped drinking water in addition to a hunger strike he began last Thursday.
“They are also telling us that they keep interrogating them for most of the time, most of the day, and the questions keep going around the same context, which is the humanitarian mission context,” she said.
In an earlier statement, Adalah said the men were being held in “total isolation,” exposed to continuous lighting in their cells and blindfolded during transfers, including for medical examinations. Israeli authorities have rejected the allegations.
The case has drawn international criticism from governments and rights organizations. Spain, Brazil, and the United Nations have called for the activists’ release.
“It is not a crime to show solidarity and attempt to bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in Gaza, who are in dire need of it,” UN rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement.
Human rights organization Amnesty International on Wednesday condemned Israel’s interception of what it described as 22 vessels belonging to the “Global Sumud Flotilla” and the detention of around 175 crew members and activists.
“Israel’s brazen and unlawful interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla vessels and the arbitrary detention of dozens of activists, underscores the dangerous consequences of decades of impunity for Israel’s ongoing atrocity crimes against Palestinians,” Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns, said in a statement.
Amnesty said activists aboard the flotilla were attempting to deliver food, baby formula, and medical supplies to Gaza amid what it described as catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the enclave.
The organization also raised concerns about the safety and treatment of detainees, citing previous allegations of sleep deprivation, denial of drinking water, and medical care involving activists detained during an earlier flotilla interception in October 2025.
“The crew of the intercepted vessels must be immediately and unconditionally released,” Amnesty said, calling on Israeli authorities to guarantee access to consular support and humane treatment while in custody.
The flotilla had departed from France, Spain, and Italy with the declared aim of challenging Israel’s long-running blockade on Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory, which has been devastated by war.
