Jerusalem, 6 October (LaPresse/AP) – Lubna Tuma, a lawyer for the Adalah association representing activists who participated in the Global Sumud Flotilla, reported that 150 people are still being held in Israel's Ktziot prison. She added that 40 of them have begun a hunger strike. ‘Some have stated that they would prefer their food to be given to the people of Gaza,’ the lawyer said during a live press conference today, broadcast on Adalah and Flotilla's Instagram accounts. Others are also refusing to drink water ‘until medical care is provided to all detainees,’ she added. Although Adalah's lawyers have now seen most, but not all, of the activists, Tuma said that the Israeli authorities had repeatedly violated the activists' rights, starting with their interception in international waters, their transfer to Israel and their subsequent transfer to a maximum security prison where, according to the lawyer, the detainees were subjected to physical violence and humiliation. Israeli authorities strongly rejected the allegations, reiterating that the activists' rights were respected throughout their detention. The Israeli Foreign Ministry, on the other hand, accused one activist of biting a female member of the medical staff.
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