Pakistan, 7 other nations condemn Israeli minister's 'appalling' actions against Gaza aid flotilla activists

Pakistan, along with seven other nations, condemned on Sunday the “appalling, degrading, and unacceptable actions of extremist Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir” against participants in the Gaza-bound flotilla while they were in Israeli detention. Last week, Israel’s far-right national security minister posted a video on showing the detained activists kneeling with their hands tied and foreheads on the ground, sparking international condemnation. The video, shared on X by the firebrand minister, was published after Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla’s vessels at sea and began detaining hundreds of foreign activists at the southern port of Ashdod. The footage also shows Ben Gvir heckling and waving an Israeli flag among the detained activists. Later, the flotilla’s organisers said the activists were subjected to abuse in Israeli custody, with several hospitalised for injuries and at least 15 reporting sexual assaults, including rape. On Sunday, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Turkiye, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates strongly condemned the minister’s “appalling, degrading, and unacceptable actions”. In a joint statement, they stressed that Ben Gvir’s “deliberate public humiliation of detainees is a disgraceful assault on human dignity and a clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, and international human rights law”. The ministers further deplored and condemned in the strongest terms the “illegal and extremist acts of incitement and violence” by Ben Gvir and the Israeli forces directed against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. They warned that Ben Gvir’s “provocative actions fuel hatred and extremism, and obstruct efforts to advance a just and lasting peace on the basis of the two-state solution”. The ministers demand accountability for Ben-Gvir’s actions and called for concrete measures to end his repeated provocations, incitement, and