MIAMI LAKES, Fla. — Rita Martinez was wearing a pink “Palestine” jersey by Wear The Peace on Friday in Miami Lakes, as she talked about her brother, a Global Sumud Flotilla activist.

Martinez said she feared that he was among the hundreds of activists who Israeli soldiers had detained on Monday and Tuesday at sea.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent referred to the flotilla as “pro-terror” and imposed sanctions against several European activists.

“They are taking food, clothing, pampers, baby food,” Martinez said about the purpose of the Global Sumud Flotilla that challenged the blockade on Gaza.

Israel has been enforcing a sea blockade of Gaza since Hamas took control in 2007, and intensified it after Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage.

The Global Sumud Flotilla had a live feed video from cameras on boats online and reported that at least 31 boats out of the 50 that departed on May 14 from Turkey were intercepted, and 428 activists were unaccounted for.

Israel reported detaining 430 activists after intercepting 41 boats.

Martinez said she was terrified after she saw the videos that Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir released on Wednesday. The images later drew the ire of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“If they are willing to do that and show it and be super blatant about it, I can’t imagine what’s going on behind closed doors,” Martinez said.

On Tuesday, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called for an urgent review of Israel’s use of force, and Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin said the detentions were “absolutely unacceptable.”

On Wednesday, Netanyahu ordered the activists’ deportation, and British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Ben-Gvir’s video “violates the most basic standards of respect and dignity.”

On Thursday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced the activists were deported, and Netanyahu said that although Israel has to stop “provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,” Ben-Gvir’s treatment was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”

Also on Thursday, French foreign affairs minister Jean-Noel Barrot condemned Ben-Gvir’s treatment of the activists.

A group of 420 activists departed Israel on Thursday. Some talked to reporters about beatings, tasers, and attack dogs after arriving at Istanbul, Athens, and other cities in Europe on Thursday and Friday.

There were journalists among the activists. Alessandro Mantovani, an Italian journalist for the daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, told The Associated Press that he and the activists were put on their knees and blindfolded.

“They repositioned mine 30 times because I kept trying to look around. And there’s absolutely no possibility in this situation to say ‘I’m a member of parliament’ or ‘I’m a journalist’ — you’re dealing with machines that scream and accompany their screaming with physical gestures," Mantovani told the AP.

Mantovani said Israeli authorities put them flat on the ground, then on their knees, with zip ties on their wrists tied down to a metal structure.

“So you’re forced to travel in an extremely uncomfortable position on rough concrete. And I had cramps in my legs the whole time, obviously,” Mantovani told the AP.

Mantovani said they were transferred to a ship, entered through a small hatch, were shoved and dragged by force with their arms twisted behind their backs, and forced to kneel in front of a wall with their heads down.

“Flat on my stomach, hands behind my back, face pressed, head pressed against the soaking wet and dirty floor of this ship — pressed down with their feet — and then they pressed my hands behind my back,” Mantovani told the AP.

Once inside the container, he said the abuse continued.

“I was kicked in the shin. Honestly, I don’t expect it. And they say, ‘Welcome to Israel.’ Then a punch to the face, one from this side, one from that side. A closed-fist punch,” Mantovani told the AP. “I moved to get up, and I got kicked in the leg. A little jolt from a taser to the ribs. And then I make it out the other side of this container and reach the deck.”

On Friday, Martinez said she still had not heard from her brother, who she said knew the risks of joining the Global Sumud Flotilla.

“I am so proud of my brother for doing this, because they went and basically risked their lives for people that we don’t even know,” Martinez said.

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Miami Lakes woman says her brother vanished after Israel intercepted flotilla near Gaza

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