Release. Updates on the situation of the participants of the Sumud Global Flotilla Kidnapped by Israel

Updates on the situation of the participants of the Sumud Global Flotilla Kidnapped by Israel

October 3 – 10:50

On the night of October 2, 2025, the interception of the Makeno and Catalina ships was confirmed, in which the Brazilian members João Aguiar and Miguel de Castro were, who were transferred to the port of Ashdod to be deported and imprisoned.

Yesterday, the Makeno ship, with the Brazilian member João Aguiar, remained for a long time located by the surveillance system within the Palestinian territorial waters, but without contact with the participants, which is already a total of 14 Brazilians arrested by the Israeli forces, adding to the total of 46 detainee activists of more than 40 nationalities.

Last update on the Marinette ship

Thousands of people followed the tireless Marinette, who sailed for more than 20 hours alone after the interception of the entire flotilla, whose interception by Israeli forces was broadcast live by YouTube.

Marinette participants knew that all their classmates had been intercepted and knew their probable destination, but still decided to continue sailing. Marinette is Sumud, the firmness of fear, blockade and brutality, symbolizes what we are seeing in the streets around the world: people who know the risks and see repression, but nothing is compared with the suffering imposed on a besieged and hungry population in Gaza, and therefore remain in solidarity.

Gaza is not alone. Palestine has not been forgotten.

Lawyers’ update on the situation of detained participants

About legal representation in Israel

Our participants are represented by the “Legal Center for the Rights of Arab minorities in Israel – Adalah”, which is the first legal center administered by Arab Palestinians in Israel and the only Palestinian organization that acts in the Israeli courts to protect the human rights of the Palestinians in Israel and throughout the occupied Palestinian.

Adalah (“Justice”, in Arabic) is an independent organization of human rights and a legal center. Founded in November 1996, its work focuses on the promotion and defense of the rights of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel – around 1.2 million people, which represents approximately 20 % of the population – and the Palestinians living in the occupied territories of Palestine.

Over the years, Adalah’s thesis and questions about the violence and segregation suffered by the Palestinians in their reports on international law have been incorporated into the final conclusions of the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies. In 2005, Adalah obtained the special advisory status before the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The Legal Center works to achieve equal individual and collective rights for the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel, especially with regard to the dispute for land rights, civil and political, economic, social and cultural rights, in addition to defending the rights of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners arrested in Israeli prisons. At the end of 2024, Israeli forces kept detained or imprisoned for political reasons to more than 10,000 Palestinians, including 300 Palestinian children, including 112 in administrative detention.

Evaluation of lawyers – Attention paid on October 2, 2025

Those responsible for the legal monitoring of the participants in the Global Sumud flotilla were present at the port from 6 in the morning of October 2. The audiences began yesterday at 2 pm and extended for 15 hours uninterrupted, in a long and exhaustive process.

The impressions of the lawyers are that, despite the circumstances, the participants remain firm in their mission, without showing discouragement. It has been informed that some have started a hunger strike in protest for the mortal famine that Gaza ravages, as a consequence of the illegal siege imposed by Israel on all means.

It was also denounced that throughout yesterday (October 2) they did not receive any type of food or had access to water.

So far, very few participants have signed the immediate exit application. Participants were previously informed that they could sign the document that would allow a faster release process. However, without the signing of this application, Israeli legislation allows arrest to 72 hours (three days).

It should be noted that the signature of the immediate exit application implies the recognition of illegal entry in Israel, with immediate deportation and the prohibition of entering the Israeli territory for more than 100 years.

On October 3, the visit of diplomats and consular representatives to the participants is scheduled, since yesterday the embassies of the countries that would not authorize visits before today would be informed.

Yesterday, not all participants could be previously attended by lawyers, since some of them were illegally prosecuted, without the right to legal representation, in clear violation of the Israeli legal process. The Adalah Center lawyers report that the procedure adopted by the authorities was considerably stricter than usual, since it was carried out directly by the police, which further limited adequate legal access and assistance.

The tireless human rights lawyers of the Adalah Legal Center spent almost 24 hours accompanying activists during interrogations. The participants were transferred to the Kt’ziot prison, in the Negev desert, an installation located between Gaza and Egypt, about 30 km from the Egyptian border.

The participants received the visit of two Israeli ministers, one of them defense minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose visit was recorded on video and widely disseminated, in an obvious attempt to intimidate the participants and the peaceful humanitarian mission.

The video shows the spirit of this mission: they will not intimidate us and we will not turn back. Our participants are fully aware that their actions and objectives are directed to Gaza and the thousands of Palestinians who face a process of intensification of ethnic cleaning, through forced displacement, hunger caused and incessant bombardments, which kill hundreds of Palestinians every day.

The presence of these authorities in the place attracts attention and indicates the attempt of political intimidation of the Zionist government, which reinforces the need for constant surveillance by the diplomatic and legal teams involved.

Collective hunger strike of the participants

According to the lawyers, some of the participants reported that they would be on hunger strike, a recognized practice of peaceful civil disobedience, historically used by individuals and groups that are in vulnerability or whose voices have been systematically silenced by power structures.

The Palestinians of Gaza are deliberately killed by the Israeli government, and the kidnapping of our activists is directly related to this, since, in a criminal way, due to the illegal blockade imposed by land, sea and air, the entry of any humanitarian aid is not allowed to a population that lives under the yoke of the cruel Israeli occupation.

The so -called humanitarian aid distribution centers in the Gaza Strip, controlled by Israel and the United States, are true traps. Using hunger as a weapon of war, these centers attract Hungry Palestinians to risk food, while they are the target of the American occupation and army forces. According to data from the United Nations Organization, there are already thousands of the Palestinians dead in these centers.

Our participants, by voluntarily renouncing to eat, now use their own body as an instrument of denunciation and resistance, given the illegal arrests of humanitarian activists, but especially before the hunger caused by Israel, who kills Palestinians daily in Gaza.

Contact with the press

Samir Oliveira – Press Advisor of the Brazilian Delegation of Global Sumud Flotilla: (51) 99858-8076
Follow our direct channels: Telegram / Instagram @globalsumudflotilla
https://globalsumudflotilla.org/live
Email: [email protected]