UN rights office receives 'worrying' reports of ill-treatment of detained Sumud activists

GENEVA

The UN human rights office said Monday it had received "worrying information" about the treatment of participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla detained in Israel.

"We have received worrying information of ill-treatment and violations of due process rights of the flotilla participants," spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told Anadolu in a statement.

He added that the office "has long raised the alarm regarding the intentionally degrading conditions" in Israeli prisons and detention centers.

Israeli naval forces attacked and seized vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla beginning 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.