The Ashkelon Magistrates’ Court extended on Sunday, May 3, the detention of Global Sumud Flotilla activists Thiago Ávila and Saif Abu Keshek for an additional two days, until next Tuesday. This follows their abduction by the Israeli Navy in international waters on April 30. During the hearing, the State requested a four-day extension, presenting a list of suspicions including aiding the enemy in wartime, contact with a foreign agent, membership in and providing services to a terrorist organization, and transferring property to a terrorist organization.
Thiago Ávila arrives at the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court in southern Israel for a remand hearing, May 3, 2026 (Photo: Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)
Adalah attorneys Hadeel Abu Saleh and Lubna Toma argued before the court that the entire legal proceeding is fundamentally flawed and illegal. Challenging the State’s jurisdiction, they asserted there is no legal basis for the extraterritorial application of these offenses to the actions of foreign nationals in international waters. They added that the use of such severe security charges constitutes a retaliatory measure against humanitarian activists and demanded their immediate and unconditional release.
Adalah further emphasized that not only were Ávila and Abu Keshek seized in international waters without legal authority, but they also provided testimonies of severe physical abuse, including beatings, prolonged solitary confinement, and being kept blindfolded for days at sea. The two activists will be transferred back to the Shikma detention facility, where they are being held in isolation. Both continue their hunger strike in protest of their illegal detention and the conditions of their confinement.
On Sunday, the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) strongly condemned “the ongoing violations of international law by Israel.” According to CPI, “We witnessed another brutal and illegal breach of international law as Israeli naval forces intercepted the Sumud Flotilla in international waters, following four weeks of continuous harassment and intimidation. This act involved the detention of peaceful citizens from sovereign nations—peace and solidarity activists who have stepped up to fulfill the responsibility that the international community has failed to uphold stopping the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank.”
The CPI, on behalf of its Jewish and Arab members and supporters, conveys its warmest greetings of solidarity “to the brave activists of the Sumud Flotilla. These individuals are actively defying the 18-year siege of Gaza and seeking to break the criminal policy of starvation by delivering humanitarian aid and the solidarity of their peoples—as evidenced by the tens of thousands who took to the streets across the globe tonight to protest this illegal interception”.
“The international community is well-versed in exerting pressure on countries that violate international standards. We demand the application of these same tools to stop a genocide that has been broadcast live for nearly two years—an atrocity that only accomplices could deny. While we welcome the growing wave of international recognition of the State of Palestine, it is time to translate this recognition into a concrete program of action. International pressure must be applied to the Israeli government to immediately halt its aggression; for every minute this war continues, more women, children, and civilians are massacred or starved in Gaza,” CPI said.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33425
