ISTANBUL

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska hinted on Monday that legal action could be taken at the International Criminal Court (ICC) after Spanish citizens aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla reported abusive treatment in Israeli custody.

"I am concerned as a minister, and I am concerned as a Spanish citizen, and simply as a person, about any violation of a fundamental right, evidently. But for that, there are also legal channels: the International Criminal Court and also the Spanish courts when it concerns national citizens," Marlaska said during an interview with broadcaster TVE.

He reaffirmed that criminal liabilities concerning those who may have been victims will be examined and addressed through the appropriate national and international legal channels.

Marlaska also noted that the boarding of ships in international waters carries an international criminal law classification under clear conventions and also within the national legal system because "this would be a deprivation of liberty, absolutely illegal, for the people who were victims of these acts."

After insisting that the priority is for the last 28 members of the flotilla to return to Spain “safe and sound,” Marlaska emphasized that the Spanish government “is absolutely proactive” in this case, “appearing before the International Criminal Court to defend the fundamental rights and public freedoms of Spanish citizens and other citizens.”

"There will be time to respond from a legal perspective. The Spanish government has already stated this from the very beginning, as I mentioned, appearing before the International Criminal Court," he explained.

Marlaska also reaffirmed that their office of the attorney general has also opened investigative proceedings.

"I believe that, in defending human rights and fundamental freedoms, no one can say that we have not been defending them from minute one," he added.

Separately, Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced on Monday that 28 Spaniards who were still detained in Israel after taking part in the Gaza-bound Global Sumud humanitarian aid flotilla would be repatriated later in the day, following the return of 21 others on Sunday.

The first group, which landed at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport on Sunday, included former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau and Republican Left of Catalonia councilor Jordi Coronas. Several of the activists described abusive treatment while in Israeli custody.

They said they did not have access to lawyers, nor were they able to contact their families, according to the Spanish EFE news agency. They reported not receiving medical assistance, while some were deprived of drinking water and necessary medications, including insulin required by two diabetic detainees, which they said they only received three days after their arrest.

According to their account, armed personnel entered the cells with dogs and pointed them at their heads. They said they were deprived of sleep, moved between cells to prevent them from resting, and were treated "worse than animals."

Israeli naval forces attacked and seized vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla beginning on Wednesday and detained more than 470 activists from over 50 countries.

The flotilla had been attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and challenge Israel’s blockade of the enclave.

Israel has maintained the blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for almost 18 years.

Since October 2023, Israeli bombardments have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it all but uninhabitable.