Türkiye gathered evidence of crimes against humanity, says Gaza flotilla activist

- 'We were held together by, first and foremost, our love of Palestine and our love of the people of Gaza'

A British journalist, who participated in the Global Sumud Flotilla, praised Türkiye's hospitality after being deported from Israel but stressed that the most important thing Ankara did was to take activists to doctors and lawyers and gather "evidence of crimes against humanity."

Kieran Andrieu is one of the 13 British citizens who were detained by Israel after it attacked the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters.

In an interview with Anadolu at Heathrow Airport, where he arrived late on Sunday from Türkiye along with three other British activists, Sarah Wilkinson, Francis Cummings, and Evie Snedker, he said that the trip itself lasted more than twice as long as they expected, as it was difficult.

However, he added: "We were held together by, first and foremost, our love of Palestine and our love of the people of Gaza. Second, by the bonds of loyalty that we developed with one another after we'd been on the boat for a period of time, and so that carried us through."

Citing drone attacks, logistical nightmares, and storms while they were on board en route to Gaza, Andrieu said such hardship is nothing compared to the daily travails that an occupying, genocidal state has forced upon Palestinians.

"It was illegal under international law for them to board our boat, for them to intercept us. We had every right, as long as the people of Gaza want us in their territorial waters," he said, mentioning Israeli attacks on the flotilla.

- Activists denied water under detention

About how the Israeli forces treated the activists after illegally detaining them, Andrieu said they were denied water for long periods of time, which is a violation of the Geneva Convention.

"We were brought blindfolded, tied on a bus that was freezing cold in the middle of the night, to a prison in the Negev desert, where Palestinian prisoners have been tortured in the past."

Recalling that they were forced into tiny cells—10 to 12 people in a cell—he said the activists were even denied essential medicines.

"People had their medicines thrown away in front of them. I saw people with heart conditions of all ages, including people in their 80s, have their medicine thrown away."

Touching on Israeli officials' statements labelling people on the Global Sumud Flotilla as "terrorists," Andrieu said: "Interesting, terrorists whose only weapons are baby formula, food, packets of rice and medicines."

"Obviously, the only terrorists are the people who are committing genocide, who think that they have total impunity to bomb all their neighbors whenever it suits them politically for domestic political reasons, and who have created more child amputees than at any other time in the past century anywhere in the world," he added.

- Labelling flotilla activists as terrorists 'pathetic'

Andrieu said that labelling activists as terrorists is "pathetic" and "laughable," adding that those who think like that ought to "hang their heads in shame" every day for the rest of their lives.

"But they won't, because nobody who has the capacity to do that would preside over such a disgusting genocide," he added.

Forcing people on their knees for 6 hours is torture, a lesser form of "clear torture," but torture, said Andrieu, adding they all faced this.

Giving an example of how Israeli officials treated activists during their detention time in the prison, he said one of the activists started shouting "help, medical emergency" at night, which they thought was "a heart attack."

While the man shouted that he could not breathe, there was nothing from Israeli officials, although there was a doctor in the prison.

"Eventually somebody said, 'we need to stop shouting, and he's going to have to try and regain control of his breathing, because clearly they're willing to let him die' and that's what he had to do," he recounted.

"It was ... a totally unexpected thing when I woke up, when I was woken up at 5 am by Israeli prison guards banging on the gates, calling us names," he said.

- Turkish hospitality

Expressing his pleasure for the day he spent in Türkiye after being deported from Israeli detention, he said: "It was really nice. And thank you to the Turks."

Appreciating Turkish hospitality, he said they provided the activists with nice food and comfortable beds for the night.

"That was really appreciated. But the most important thing they did was take us to doctors, take us to lawyers and gather evidence of crimes against humanity," he added.

Israel has deported around 170 Gaza flotilla participants over the past few days, mostly to Istanbul, with smaller groups sent to Italy and Spain.

Israeli naval forces attacked and seized vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla beginning on Wednesday and detained more than 470 activists from over 50 countries.

The flotilla had been attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and challenge Israel’s blockade of the enclave.

Israel has maintained the blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for almost 18 years.

Since October 2023, Israeli bombardments have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it uninhabitable.