ISTANBUL, May 22 — Julien Cabral has just completed his first voyage with the “Flotilla for Gaza”. One of his eyes is ringed with purple, he has a wound on his left temple...
A screen grab from Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s X account shows a Gaza bound flotilla activist escorted with hands tied. — AFP pic/X account of Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir!
Plus, enjoy an additional FREE RM10 when you sign up using code VERSAMM10 with a min. cash-in of RM100 today. T&Cs apply. ISTANBUL, May 22 — Julien Cabral has just completed his first voyage with the “Flotilla for Gaza”. One of his eyes is ringed with purple, he has a wound on his left temple and an injured shoulder blade.
The 57-year-old Belgian originally from the port of Antwerp was on board a small boat that left Turkey with six other people — an Italian, another Belgian, a Malaysian, a Finn, a Canadian-Palestinian and a South African. About 10 members of the Israeli forces intercepted them in international waters more than 500 kilometres from the Israeli coast on Monday, he said as he arrived at Istanbul airport on Thursday.
Turkey has evacuated 422 people on special flights, including 85 of its own citizens, and deployed doctors and ambulances.
“They first jammed communications then boarded in broad daylight with guns and fired plastic bullets just for fun,” said Cabral. “We were surprised. There were corvettes all around us. They moved in with a lot of violence even though we all had our hands in the air.
”Screen grab from Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s X account on May 20, 2026 shows Gaza‑bound flotilla activists kneeling with hands tied on a military boat. — AFP pic/X account of Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir“I was the second in command on the boat. Our captain, an Italian, was still standing and they targeted him straight away. I took a punch to the left temple,” Cabral recounted.
“Then they transferred us, still using violence, our hands bound with plastic ties onto this prison-ship, into containers. Cabral said the detainees asked to see a doctor for three days but were always told “later, later”.
“They confiscated the medication of one person who suffers from epilepsy. On board the boat ‘Sirius’, seven people had 35 fractures between them,” he added, pointing to his ribs and arms. On board, the soldiers threw down from the upper deck boxes filled with bread and water “but not in sufficient quantity”, he said.
“There must have been 200 of us... We asked for more water, toilet paper, tampons for the women. We had to ask for everything. ” The detainees were taken off the ship on Wednesday and taken in cramped prison vans to be locked up near Ashdod, in southern Israel.
“We couldn’t see anything. They pressed on our necks,” he said.
“And they kept on slapping us, insulting us... People were laughing with them, playing the Israeli national anthem. They were particularly harsh with the Jordanians, the Tunisians. ”“There again, we were subjected to insults.
” A Global Sumud Flotilla activist deported from Israel is stretchered into an ambulance after arriving at Istanbul Airport on May 21, 2026. — AFP picCabral is hoping to return to Belgium on Friday after seeing one of the doctors waiting for the evacuees. He also said he intended to leave again on the next flotilla. Bilal Kitay, a Turkish national from Bingol, a mainly Kurdish city in eastern Turkey, held his wife in his arms.
This was his second trip with the “Flotilla for Gaza”, on board a boat with about 10 other activists. He insisted that their interception by Israeli forces was “much, much more violent than the previous one” in April.
“They attacked us,” he said. “Each of us was beaten, women and men... It’s what Palestinians experience all the time,” he said.
“Unfortunately, they treat their animals better. They alone consider themselves human,” he said. Kitay is also planning to leave on the next convoy. — AFP
Julien Cabral Flotilla For Gaza Israeli Commandos Ashdod Ramon Airport
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