The assault on the Flotilla, from within: "We heard loud bangs, like they were destroying everything"

BarcelonaOn the night of April 29-30, the Israeli navy assaulted the Global Sumud Flotilla sailing towards Gaza. The boarding took place in international waters, 1,100 km from Tel Aviv, near the coast of Greece. The result: 22 ships destroyed and 176 activists detained. Forty hours later, they were released in Crete, except for the two visible leaders of the movement, the Catalan trade unionist of Palestinian origin Saif Abukeshek and the Brazilian environmental activist Thiago Ávila. This Sunday they were deported from Israel after nine days in prison, where they denounced torture and went on a hunger strike. ARA has collected the testimony of six of the Flotilla activists and reports from Open Arms, which escorted the humanitarian maritime convoy, to reconstruct the events.

April 29, 5 p.m.

The Flotilla is divided into two groups. The main group sails southeast to interfere with the passage of a merchant ship suspected of transporting weapons to Israel, while a smaller group, which includes the Saf-saf, the coordination vessel, remains in position, next to theOpen Arms.April 29, 8.30 p.m.

The small group sees drones flying over the area, and a few minutes later an Israeli military ship broadcasts a message on VHF radio emergency channel 16 identifying itself as the Israeli navy and threatening all vessels: "Sailing towards Gaza endangers your safety and leaves the Israel Defense Forces with no option but to take all security measures at their disposal to ensure the legitimate maritime blockade. If you continue and attempt to break the blockade, we will stop your vessel and detain you for legal proceedings. You will have to take responsibility for your actions.

April 29, 9:20 PM

An Israeli frigate passes by the ships and launches drones from its deck. The Flotilla's command orders to set course for a meeting point within Greek territorial waters to protect themselves from the attack.

April 29, 11:02 PM

Contact is first lost with the Saf-Saf, the coordination vessel. Then contact is lost with various boats as they are attacked. The student and waiter from Girona, Manaia Lasnier, a member of Arran, who was on board the Hula, recalls the moment like this: "There were dozens of drones around us: some were flashing, some were getting very close to us. We all put on our life jackets and started navigating in zigzags. And suddenly, out of nowhere, a military frigate appeared. We saw speedboats coming out of it." Later, they detected another, larger military ship at the stern, which was following them at a distance and from which inflatable boats were also emerging. The Flotilla boats that could, sent out an SOS; but they never received a response from the Greek coastguards. A Frontex plane was flying over the area at that moment.

April 30th in the early morning

Lasnier thus recalls the moment when Israeli soldiers boarded his boat. "First we lost all communications and a few seconds later we had a boat with about ten soldiers alongside. We were in international waters about 1,100 km from Gaza. We were on deck with our life jackets, I bent down to pick up my mobile and I saw green laser dots pointing at my chest. They ordered us to put our hands up and made us go to the bow and kneel with our faces to the ground." He counted five soldiers: "There were four men and one woman. Some were pointing guns at us, others were watching the captain, whom they ordered to stay at the helm, and the rest entered the boat: we heard loud bangs, like they were destroying everything".

He also recalls that the soldiers tied two lights emitting orange flashes to each side of the boat. Then they made them climb into the speedboat and from there they took them to the large ship that was following the operation from a distance. Later they discovered it was a floating prison, where they transferred the 176 captured activists. At that moment, the Israeli government announced that they would be transferred to the port of Ashkelon and would be prosecuted, as with last summer's Flotilla. All visible leaders of the movement were captured, including Saif Abukeshek and Thiago Ávila.

The operation was repeated, according to testimonies from different boats that the ARA has been able to speak with, on a total of 22 ships, which were left empty adrift, destroyed. Among them was the Bribona, which had belonged to King Juan Carlos I and was lent to the Flotilla by a company. In the assault, the soldiers broke the sails, disabled the engines (in some cases using angle grinders) or caused leaks.

The last boat boarded was the Tam-tam. At dawn, soldiers stormed them and damaged the engine, but left them adrift. One of its crew members explained that they were shot at "at least three times in the hull". "But they left, we saw the dinghies going from one place to another, and around three in the morning they boarded us, pointed guns at us, and ordered us to take our passports and medication. When it seemed they were going to take us, they abandoned the ship and told us to return to Barcelona," he recalls.

Everything indicates that the Israeli military operation was interrupted because it was getting light. They were left adrift without communication until another boat, which had experienced technical problems before the assault and arrived in the area in daylight, found them. Later, the Open Arms rescued them, and checked all the abandoned boats to ensure no one remained. Those that were in better condition they tried to tow, but a strong storm made them abandon them at sea. At this point, the rest of the Flotilla's ships entered Greek territorial waters, off the coast of Crete: 35 boats remained, in addition to the Greenpeace and Open Arms observer vessels.

April 30th in the morning

Judit Piñol, an activist from Terrassa per Palestina, recounts that when they arrived at the Israeli ship where all the captured participants were transferred, they identified them one by one and put a zip tie on their wrist with a number. They describe the place as a kind of open-air prison yard, where metal containers had been installed. Many had to spend the night outdoors, on a type of mattress, without blankets, with little water and no food. The soldiers separated two participants from the rest of the group after they led some chants.

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the capture of the activists and published a video of a moment when they were doing gymnastic exercises, trying to discredit them, and talking about "the Condom Flotilla" after claiming they had found condoms and drugs on one of the ships.

Javi Aparicio, an activist from Madrid, recounted the moment when Israeli soldiers took away the Catalan-Palestinian activist: "During one of the counts, they called Saif's name and took him away. They used Thiago as an intermediary with all of us. They ordered me to remove the mattresses and I lowered my arms saying I would not cooperate. They locked me in the same container and I saw him lying on the ground with his hands tied behind his back while they stepped on his head. He complained that he couldn't feel his hands and they kicked him and hit him and hurt him with scissors. He said he couldn't breathe well".

Afternoon and night of April 30th

According to the consistent testimony of various activists, in the afternoon they hear several explosions and an Israeli squad enters the place where they are held captive. They take a new headcount and by loudspeaker they call for Abukeshek, who presents himself and they take him away. "It was dystopian: hooded snipers aimed at us, we were among barbed wire, it was very cold at night and very hot during the day. But we did not stop demanding that they release our detained comrades," recalls the Argentine deputy from Esquerra Socialista Mónica Schlotthauer.

May 1st in the morning

The Israeli government announces that it will release the activists in Greece, after reaching an agreement with the Greek government. The members of the Flotilla do not know where they are or where they are being taken, and they demand that Saif also be released. "Thiago approached to dialogue and they subdued him, handcuffed him and took him away at that moment. The rest of us returned to protest," recalls audiovisual technician Koki Gassiot, from the Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya. At that moment the squad returned and shots were heard. Some sat on the ground, in an attitude of peaceful resistance and received kicks or blows with rifles to make them leave the ship: they left about thirty injured.One by one and violently they were forced to board a smaller boat, which in a short time transported them in several trips to a port in Crete. All witnesses consulted agree that they were in Greek territorial waters and that they repeatedly warned the coastguards that Ávila and Abukeshek remained inside the prison ship. But they could not announce it to the Flotilla organization because they were incommunicado.

The legal teams of the movement have demanded an investigation into the responsibility of the Greek authorities in the events. On the same day as the assault, they presented a petition to the Greek Prosecutor's Office and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in which they requested precautionary measures to allow the Israeli ship to leave Greek waters. The ECtHR has asked for explanations from the government of Athens.