13 of 19 pro-Palestine activists who were detained off the Handala ship by Israeli occupation forces are facing on Monday deportation hearings as they are going on a hunger strike in protest against their arbitrary detention.
The boat, with 21 activists on board, including parliamentarians and journalists, set out from Sicily earlier this month, with the activists and some humanitarian aid supplies. The vessel attempted to break through Israel’s maritime blockade on the Gaza Strip whose people have been facing starvation due to the Israeli blockade..
Israeli media reported that 13 activists refused voluntary repatriation, and are scheduled for deportation hearings on Monday.
They are scheduled Monday for hearings before the Detention Review Tribunal and the Givon Prison in Ramle, The Jerusalem Post quoted the Adalah legal center, whose lawyers are representing the activists, as saying.
The Israeli media outlet, citing Israeli occupation authorities, identified those scheduled for the Monday hearings as: Braedon Peluso and Christian Smalls from the US, Robert Martin and Tania (Tan) Safi from Australia, Justine Kempf from France, Emma Fourreau from France and Sweden, Antonio La Picirella from Italy, Chloé Fiona Ludden from the United Kingdom and France, Sergio Toribio Sanchez and Santiago González Vallejo from Spain, Vigdis Bjorvand from Norway, and Hatem Aouini from Tunisia.
It identified the activists who have already been deported, or are expected to be within the next few hours, as: Antonio Mazzeo from Italy, Gabriel Cathala from France, Jacob Berger from the US, Waad Al Musa from the US and Iraq, and Mohamed El Bakkali from Morocco.
The 21 activists from 10 countries were taken into custody late Saturday when the Handala was boarded in international waters as it attempted to breach an Israeli maritime blockade of the Palestinian territory.
‘Handala’ was illegally boarded by Israel military in international waters, around 40 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza.
Before interception the 21 crew made this statement: if attacked they will join the global hunger strike for Gaza.
Call your governments now and hold them… pic.twitter.com/QbqUaduXG1
— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) July 27, 2025
The Handala and its crew from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) were brought to the port of Ashdod in the occupied territories, where, according to the legal rights Adalah, all but two — a pair of dual US-Israeli nationals — were being held under Israeli immigration law.
Source: Agencies