Activists staged a protest inside Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday, following the return of 11 Australian citizens who had been among the 430 volunteers on 50 boats intercepted in international waters last week as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF).
“The serious human rights abuses perpetrated by Israeli officials against these peaceful activists are enabled and fuelled by a brutal and unlawful military occupation and apartheid regime…[reflecting] the everyday reality faced by Palestinians,” Mohamed Duar, Amnesty International Australia spokesperson stated.
“The serious human rights abuses perpetrated by Israeli officials against these peaceful activists are enabled and fueled by a brutal and unlawful military occupation and apartheid regime,” stated Mohamed Duar, Amnesty International Australia spokesperson, a treatment he described as reflecting “the everyday reality faced by Palestinians.”
The developments come as hundreds of flotilla activists released after Israel’s raid have shared harrowing accounts of detention conditions, with allegations of torture, abuse and mistreatment continuing to surface as more groups return to their home countries this week.
Each arrival has triggered public briefings and renewed diplomatic pressure. The backlash intensified after footage circulated showing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir taunting bound activists at the Ashdod port.
Returning flotilla activists were also met with a violent confrontation at Bilbao Airport, where Basque police intervened using batons and force amid clashes that led to several arrests, according to reports and activist accounts.
In separate developments, activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) and human rights groups have called for the release of 10 participants from a separate sister “land convoy” attempting to deliver aid to Gaza via Egypt.
The activists were detained by a security force affiliated with the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), loyal to Khalifa Haftar, and remain in the custody of eastern-based authorities under the Government of National Stability (GNS), according to a GSF statement on Monday.
Libya’s eastern-based foreign ministry said the group entered the country without completing the required legal procedures and permits for movement through approved border crossings and roads.
The convoy had entered the 5+5 security zone on Sunday afternoon to negotiate safe passage for its humanitarian mission, after which contact with the team was lost.
The detained activists include six women and are nationals of Spain, Poland, the United States, Argentina, Uruguay, Portugal, Tunisia, and Italy, among them doctors and human rights defenders who volunteered to deliver aid and express solidarity with Palestinians.
Two Italians are among the group, who have been transferred to Benghazi and are being treated as possible illegal migrants, ANSA reported on Monday, adding they may be expelled from Libya soon.
Maria Elena Delia, the Italian spokesperson for the Global Sumud Flotilla, said on Sunday that the group had been negotiating at a checkpoint with Haftar-affiliated forces as part of an attempt to deliver aid to Gaza via land through Egypt.
In its Monday statement, Libya’s eastern authorities said that the land border crossing with Egypt is reserved to citizens from the two countries, adding that the detainees are receiving humanitarian care while awaiting “legal and administrative procedures.”
The land convoy linked to the flotilla left Algeria in mid-May 2026 after earlier detentions in Tunisia, reaching Sirte on May 24. Its planned route toward Egypt and the Rafah crossing was expected to face major hurdles.
The global flotilla, launched mainly from European ports aimed at delivering aid to Gaza and challenging Israel’s blockade. Israel intercepted it twice in international waters, temporarily detaining hundreds of activists in a prison in Israel in May.
Israeli ambassadors have been summoned in several European capitals amid widening international condemnation of Ben Gvir, who on May 20 shared a video on X, still live as of publication, of himself taunting bound international detainees as Israeli forces physically assaulted them in a public display of humiliation.
In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he had raised the issue directly with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in a Monday call, calling for an independent investigation into the treatment of detainees.
Yet in the same call, Carney combined support for Israel’s right to self-defense with sharp criticism of the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “catastrophic,” while reaffirming opposition to settlement expansion, urging de-escalation with Iran, and raising concerns over Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Poland has imposed a five-year entry ban on Ben Gvir, while France has also barred him from entry, deeming his behavior as unacceptable, despite its foreign minister’s opposition to the flotilla, which he wrote “produces no useful effect and burdens diplomatic and consular services."
Other European governments including Italy, Ireland and Spain have urged for EU-wide sanctions against him.
Beyond diplomatic responses, activists from the GSF and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition have sustained coordinated public pressure campaigns on their governments, pushing for accountability measures that go beyond statements of concern, in what has become a sustained and highly organized advocacy effort running alongside preparations for the flotilla itself.
Yemen, Turkey and Qatar among others condemned Israel’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla and the treatment of its activists.
