All Irish members of the Global Sumud Flotilla detained by Isreali authorities are now en route home to Ireland, according to Dr Suhad Bishara, senior attorney with Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Today with David McCullagh on Thursday morning, May 21, Dr Bishara said all flotilla members, including Irish activists and Dr Margaret Connolly, sister of President Catherine Connolly, were being transferred to the airport following overnight detention.

“This was after a long night that they had at Ashdod Port, where they had to go through hearings before immigration officers,” Dr Bishara told RTÉ Radio One’s Today with David McCullagh.

“From there, they moved to a prison in the south, in the Naqab desert,” she added.

Dr Bishara, speaking from the detention centre in Ashdod, described what she said was a pattern of violence against detainees. Many were reportedly left in “severe pain”, while at least three activists were hospitalised.

 

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As reported by The Irish Independent, she said: “We’ve met hundreds of participants yesterday, and the pictures that we have is that there was a very systematic and patterned way of violence against participants.

“Many complained of humiliation, some complained of sexual harassment, and we can say for sure from our experience in the past several years representing flotilla participants, this was the most severe in the past ten years or so, in terms of violence, degrading, humiliating treatment.”

She continued to explain that the activists were detained as if they had entered Israel illegally, which is not the case.

“One doctor on board said she examined dozens of participants, some with broken ribs and more who will require immediate medical attention on arrival to their home countries.”

Human rights campaigner Caoimhe Butterly, who sailed with the flotilla for five weeks aboard a support and observer vessel, said all 430 detainees were expected to travel on three chartered flights to Turkey before returning to their home countries.

Speaking to The Journal, Butterly reported, “They’re expected to be supported by a series of medical and psychological checks on arrival and representatives from the various different governments and consular services will meet them at the airport”. 

An Instagram post by Caoimhe Butterly also commented on the treatment of Catríona/Cat Graham, who was physically assaulted by Israeli forces after shouting “Free Palestine”.

 

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Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was “appalled and shocked” by the treatment of activists aboard the aid flotilla. Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee also condemned the video footage released by Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben‑Gvir, where dozens of detained flotilla activists are shown bound, kneeling, and in some cases, violently pushed and taunted.

“It’s utterly appalling, we are looking at a minister of the Israeli government taunting and goading Irish citizens and citizens from other countries, so I’m appalled by that,” Ms McEntee told RTÉ News.

The Global Sumud Flotilla had set sail from Turkey last week in an attempt to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Organisers said all 50 boats in the flotilla were intercepted in the eastern Mediterranean, with 428 participants from more than 40 countries detained.

Activists, including Irish activists involved in the flotilla, said attention must remain focused on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the suffering endured daily by Palestinians under Israel’s military campaign.

In February this year, it was reported that the true human cost of Israel’s war on Gaza had far exceeded previous official estimates, with independent research published in leading medical journals verifying more than 75,000 “violent deaths” by early 2025.