When Arno Meyns tried to sail to Gaza in May, Israeli forces intercepted his boat at gunpoint, took him to an Israeli ship and, he said, shoved him into a darkened shipping container.
Barefoot and soaked in seawater, Mr. Meyns found up to four men waiting there to attack him, he said.
“They started kicking me right away. It was dark. They punched me, too. They stopped for a moment, and then started again,” said Mr. Meyns, 34, a Belgian who is a captain for small commercial vessels.
Mr. Meyns was among more than 400 activists on a flotilla of roughly 50 boats who were apprehended on the Mediterranean Sea by Israel as they tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
The stated goal of the activists, who sailed from Turkey on May 14, was to bring food and humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged enclave. In reality, many expected to be detained, like those who had participated in similar flotillas, before reaching the territory. They hoped that media coverage of their journey would call attention to Israel’s restrictions on supplies to Gaza, which tightened after the war began — and which later contributed, experts said, to famine in parts of Gaza. » | Catherine Porter, Elisabetta Povoledo and Nimet Kirac | Reporting from Paris, Rome and Istanbul, the reporters spoke to 24 people who were detained when Israel intercepted their convoy. They also reviewed several activists’ medical records and spoke to legal experts about the Israelis’ actions. | Friday, August 7, 2026
