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Italy Opens Criminal Probe After Seizure of Activists from Aid Ships
(MENAFN) Rome's Prosecutor's Office launched a formal criminal investigation on Monday into the detention of Italian citizens following Israel's military interception of a humanitarian flotilla in international waters near Greece.
The inquiry centers on events that unfolded late on April 29, when Israeli forces stopped several vessels belonging to the Global Sumud Flotilla in waters off the Greek island of Crete, as the convoy attempted to deliver relief supplies to Gaza, an Italian news agency reported.
Prosecutors moved to open the case after receiving three separate formal complaints. Two of those filings relate specifically to activists Thiago de Avila and Saif Abukeshek, who were reportedly forcibly removed from Italian-flagged vessels and remain in custody.
The investigation also targets unidentified suspects on charges including kidnapping, robbery, and endangering vessels to the point of potential shipwreck, according to the report.
As part of the inquiry, investigators are expected to formally request cross-border legal assistance from Israeli authorities through a letter rogatory — a standard instrument of international judicial cooperation.
The Global Sumud Flotilla came under attack last Thursday approximately 600 nautical miles from Gaza, well within international waters near Crete. The convoy's advance vessels had originally departed Barcelona on April 12 carrying humanitarian cargo, while the main fleet weighed anchor from the Italian island of Sicily on April 26, with the explicit goal of piercing Israel's longstanding blockade of the coastal territory.
Israel has maintained a suffocating blockade over Gaza since 2007, reducing the enclave's 2.4 million residents to the brink of famine. In October 2023, it launched a large-scale military offensive on the territory that has since claimed more than 72,000 lives, left over 172,000 wounded, and reduced vast stretches of the already-besieged strip to rubble.
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