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Activists evacuated from Israeli detention following the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla arrived in Türkiye on Thursday, where they accused Israeli forces of systematic physical violence and abuse during their detention.
Speaking to Türkiye's state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reporters at Istanbul Airport, participants from the Global Sumud convoy described being subjected to degrading treatment and denied basic necessities.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said 422 volunteers were evacuated, including 85 Turkish citizens and 337 nationals from 41 other countries.
Istanbul's Chief Public Prosecutor has opened an investigation, and 51 activists with the most serious injuries were transported directly to hospitals by ambulance.
Margaret Connolly, a 67-year-old general practitioner from Sligo and sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly, said approximately 50 people were forced to sleep side by side in a "filthy container" for three days with no food and insufficient water, without soap or toilet paper.
Her diabetes, blood pressure, and asthma medications were confiscated.
"The conditions were horrific. We've had 35 fractures, five head injuries, up to 16 sexual abuses, ear injuries, and eye injuries. Absolute numerous taser burns to the back and genitals," Connolly told Anadolu.
"I never saw such ugly, ugly control by an army. For all of these injuries, I didn't have a single painkiller," she said.
Connolly thanked the Turkish government for "sending a plane to rescue us from the Israeli Zionist state" and criticized Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin by name.
"Shame on you, Micheal Martin. Shame, shame, shame," she said.
Irish activist Michael Cullen said their boat was fired upon with plastic bullets in international waters in broad daylight. "When we arrived onto the prison ship, all of us got beaten," Cullen said.
He described being held in metal containers overnight and said women were also beaten after reaching Ashdod port.
"I've never heard as many people screaming and crying. And I've never seen human beings enjoy inflicting suffering and pain onto other people the way that I've seen the joy in the Israelis' eyes as they were hurting people. It was really sickening and scary to behold such evil," Cullen stated.
New Zealand activist Mousa Taher, on his second attempt to join the flotilla after being detained in Greece during the first, said Israeli soldiers recognized him by name.
He said they bound him so tightly with plastic zip ties that he wept, and when he protested, soldiers tightened the restraints further and stepped on his hand.
"Then he put his boot on my face and took a picture like he had captured an animal," Taher told Anadolu.
He said he was later transferred to a prison ship where he lost consciousness after being severely beaten, waking to punches and kicks.
"They humiliated us. They want us to feel small. They made us crawl on the ground just to make us feel like we are nothing. I honestly felt in my heart these people are really evil," Taher said.
Maori activist Hahona Ormsby from New Zealand said he was kicked in the genital area, tied to a chair and punched, with a soldier telling him "every minute spent with him would cause him pain." Injuries to his hands and lips came from being slammed into a wall.
"My pain is little compared to theirs," Ormsby said of Palestinians in Gaza.
Australian doctor Bianca Webb-Pullman said activists were held in stress positions for over an hour at the port while Israeli soldiers played the national anthem on repeat.
"They were hitting people, kicking people, and this went on throughout the whole process of being processed at the dock. It was extremely degrading," Webb-Pullman told Anadolu.
Despite also being subjected to violence herself, she and other health care workers on board were forced to treat injured passengers without any medical support from Israeli forces.
"We are not criminals. We are treated worse than animals. I mean, an animal, you would give water," she said.
French activist Adrien Jouan said he was beaten in the back repeatedly on both the initial boat and the prison vessel.
"It was a kind of torture," Jouan said. He noted that activists of Arab appearance or those who did not appear to be "white Europeans" received harsher treatment. He said he intends to pursue legal action against Israeli soldiers.
Belgian activist Arno Meyne said everyone arrived on the prison ship injured, with many suffering fractures and head trauma, and that there were also cases of sexual assault.
Turkish activist Fatma Zengin said Israeli soldiers behaved politely in front of cameras but that once she was removed from the boat, two female soldiers beat her.
"The two female soldiers beat me where the cameras were not recording. They hit my legs and neck repeatedly. They put reverse handcuffs on me while continuously beating me. I currently cannot feel my fingers. They kicked me while I was face down. I cried there, but the reason I cried was because Palestinians have been enduring this pain for years," Zengin told Anadolu.
She said soldiers then removed her headscarf, accused her of being a Hamas member and told her to smile at the camera. "I spat at their cameras," she said.
Activist Abdulmecid Bagcivan was shot in the leg by a plastic bullet fired from approximately half a meter away. "There is currently a hole in my leg. Thank God there is no problem, I am fine. I refused their treatment. They only put on a bandage," Bagcivan said.
Turkish activist Omer Aslan said approximately 36 rounds were fired at his vessel, with bullets passing through a friend's back and near his own head.
"I was beaten by 27 Israeli soldiers. That is fine. I endured this torture for one and a half to two days with difficulty. They did not even give me shoes. They tore everything off me," Aslan said.
HAK-IS labor union chairman Mahmut Arslan, who also joined the flotilla, described the operation as a historic act of solidarity. "These Zionist killers fear Sumud the most," Arslan said.
Canadian activist Ehab Lotayef showed his bandaged hand and said an Israeli soldier stabbed him after he gave water to fellow detainees.
"One Israeli soldier didn't like that I was giving water to people. So he came and stabbed me in my hand," Lotayef told Anadolu. He said he had lost sensation in the injured hand.
Canadian activist Michael France said 160 people were crammed into three shipping containers on a prison vessel with bare metal floors.
"We were welcomed by tasers. We had flashbangs every two or three hours through the night, waking us up," France said. He described soldiers stomping on his bare feet with military boots and repeated blows to his head. "We have nothing of the treatment that the people of Palestine do. And that's why we are here," he said.
Mauritanian human rights activist Muhammed Baba said a guard dog was unleashed on him. "They unleashed a guard dog on me. It was hitting my chest and face with its muzzle. This attack happened just before we were taken to prison," Baba told Anadolu.
Algerian activist Muhammed Harkati said activists were tightly restrained during interrogations and beaten by soldiers when transferred between rooms, with both plastic and steel handcuffs used throughout detention.
"The beatings and torture we endured cannot be compared to what our Palestinian brothers are suffering. Palestinians do not have such an opportunity. We were able to eat and drink, but they cannot," Harkati said.
Italian activist Luca Poggi, who arrived in Rome via Turkish Airlines, said the level of violence had escalated significantly compared to a previous flotilla he had joined.
"Last time we were humiliated but we essentially came back in one piece. This time we are literally coming back with broken bones," Poggi told Anadolu.
Activist Martina Comparelli described the procedure upon entering containers as: "First you are beaten, then you go inside."
Activist Marco Orefice said activists were taken to what resembled "a floating concentration camp" and kept 50 to a container for nearly 24 hours without food or water, with hands cuffed and snipers on deck.
"They did to us what they have been doing to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians for decades," Orefice said.
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