Aysu Bicer
21 May 2026•Update: 21 May 2026
Denmark on Thursday voiced concern over the treatment of detainees intercepted during a Gaza flotilla mission, after footage shared by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir appeared to show activists zip-tied and forced to kneel following their detention by Israeli forces in international waters.
“Deeply concerned about the Israeli security minister Ben-Gvir's unacceptable treatment of detainees from the Gaza flotilla. It is absolutely crucial that detainees are treated with respect, and that their rights are upheld, which Denmark has also made clear to Israel,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen wrote on the US social media company X.
The Global Sumud humanitarian aid flotilla said Tuesday that all 50 vessels in its convoy had been seized by Israel following attacks in international waters.
The flotilla, carrying 428 people from 44 countries, departed last Thursday from the Turkish district of Marmaris in a new attempt to break the illegal Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Although a ceasefire was reached in Gaza on Oct. 10, 2025, humanitarian access has failed to improve in the strip, and deadly Israeli attacks have continued. Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 881 people have been killed and 2,621 injured since the ceasefire took effect.
The agreement was intended to halt Israel’s two-year war on Gaza, which has killed more than 72,000 people, most of them women and children, injured over 172,000 others since October 2023, and caused widespread destruction affecting around 90% of the civilian infrastructure.
