The former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau (main image), one of the flotilla activists who arrived at Barcelona airport (via Madrid) on Sunday evening after being deported by Israel, said that ‘none of her rights had been respected’ and nor was there a ‘rule of law’ during her detention.
Israeli naval forces intercepted the vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla during Wednesday and Thursday, detaining more than 470 activists from over 50 countries. The flotilla had been attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and challenge Israel’s blockade of the enclave. ALSO READ: Thousands protest in Spanish cities against the Gaza flotilla interception.
‘It was a very difficult experience, of illegal detention and kidnapping in the middle of international waters,’ said Colau on arriving at Barcelona El Prat Airport.
‘We were locked up in a prison, which they say is high security, where there was no rule of law. None of our rights were respected: there was mistreatment, degrading treatment … But we know that this is nothing compared to what the Palestinian people have to endure and what Gaza goes through every day,’ she said, after being received with cheers and applause at the airport.
Colau was accompanied by Jordi Coronas, a councillor for the Catalan pro-independence party, Esquerra Republicana (ERC). Around 200 people gathered at the arrivals area of Barcelona airport to welcome them, including family members, friends and representatives of their political parties.
A total of 21 activists from Spain returned on Sunday evening, to Madrid and Barcelona airports. Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares said that 28 other activists – all Spanish nationals who were still detained in Israel after taking part in the Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla – would be repatriated later on Monday.
The minister underlined that his Foreign Ministry had offered to ‘completely’ take charge of the repatriation and its cost.
Several of the activists who landed at Madrid-Barajas Airport on Sunday described abusive treatment while in Israeli custody.
They said they did not have access to lawyers nor were they able to contact their families, according to the EFE news agency. They reported not receiving medical assistance, while some were deprived of drinking water and necessary medications, including insulin required by two diabetic detainees, which they said they only received three days after their arrest.
According to their own accounts, armed personnel entered the cells with dogs and pointed them at their heads. They said they were deprived of sleep, moved between cells to prevent them from resting, and were treated ‘worse than animals’.
Posting on social media platform X (see below), the Israeli Foreign Ministry denied that the legal rights of the activists detained were not being upheld.
‘171 additional provocateurs from the Hamas-Sumud flotilla, including Greta Thunberg, were deported today from Israel to Greece and Slovakia,’ they wrote.
‘All the legal rights of the participants in this PR stunt were and will continue to be fully upheld. The lies they are spreading are part of their pre-planned fake news campaign. The only violent incident came from a Hamas–Sumud provocateur who bit a female medical staff member of Ketsiyot Prison.’
Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter from Spain in English.
🇵🇸 Ada Colau denuncia haver patit “tracte denigrant” a la presó d’altra de seguretat israeliana on ha estat “detinguda il·legalment i no s’han respectat els nostres drets”
🗣️ “L’important és la causa palestina i aturar el genocidi. Per tant, l’acció continua”
➕ Info:… pic.twitter.com/4A6FeO0mUV
— RTVE Notícies (@rtvenoticies) October 5, 2025
171 additional provocateurs from the Hamas–Sumud flotilla, including Greta Thunberg, were deported today from Israel to Greece and Slovakia.
The deportees are citizens of Greece, Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland,… pic.twitter.com/DqcGLOJov7
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 6, 2025
Click here to get your business activity or services listed on our DIRECTORY.