Israeli officers bring Spanish activist Saif Abu Keshek to a court in Ashkelon on Tuesday [Getty]
Israeli authorities are expected to seek an extension of the detention of foreign activists from the Gaza flotilla who were detained last week, according to a legal rights group.
Mutasem Zeidan, a spokesperson for the Israel-based NGO Adalah, told The New Arab that an Israeli court was set to hold a hearing on Tuesday to consider prolonging the detention of activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla.
The hearing concerns the cases of Saif Abu Kheshek and Thiago Avila, who were taken for questioning after being detained in international waters near Greece late on 29 April.
They were among roughly 180 people abducted when Israeli forces intercepted the vessel around 600 nautical miles from Gaza.
As the pair entered their seventh day in detention in Ashkelon, Zeidan said the outcome of the hearing remained uncertain.
“We cannot predict what may happen in court today and we are in a legal process and it may require an appeal on our part to the court,” he said.
Adalah, a legal centre for Arab minority rights in Israel, said Brazilian national Avila had received death threats and faces the prospect of “over 100 years in prison”.
The organisation also said in a statement on Monday that both Avila and Abu Kheshek had been subjected to various forms of abuse and torture while in custody. Both activists are currently on hunger strike.
During a previous hearing on Sunday, Adalah said state prosecutors had presented a list of alleged offences, including “assisting the enemy during wartime” and “membership in and providing services to a terrorist organisation”.
The accusations reportedly relate to alleged links with the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), which Washington claims has ties to Hamas.
Spain’s foreign ministry has called for the “immediate release” of Abu Kheshek, a Spanish-Palestinian national, describing his detention as unlawful.
“This is a case of illegal detention in international waters, outside the jurisdiction of Israeli authorities,” Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares said in an interview with public radio over the weekend. “I have made this clear to my Israeli counterpart.”
The case comes amid strained relations between Madrid and Tel Aviv, following efforts by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government to distance itself from Israel. Sanchez has been openly critical of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and formally recognised Palestinian statehood in 2024.
