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Activists who boarded an international relief ship bound for the Gaza Strip and were captured by the Israeli military say they were subjected to sexual violence, beatings and other abuses while in custody.
On the 28th, the Korea chapter of the Freedom Flotilla for Palestine (KFFP) and Palestine Emergency Action held a press conference at Green Hospital in Seoul’s Jungnang District to allege human rights violations by the Israeli military.
Activist Kim Ah-hyun said soldiers used tasers on nearly every man and sexually assaulted and raped women. “I heard soldiers taunting and shouting orders, and I heard people being beaten. The screams went on so long they felt suffocating,” she said.
She added that one crew member was shot in the thigh and left without treatment, allowing the wound to worsen. “The container was full of people with broken bones, but no medical care was provided,” she said.
Kim Dong-hyun said that at the entrance to the prison ship, soldiers violently conducted naked strip-searches and confiscated passports and belongings. About a dozen soldiers recorded the process on camera, using flashing lights as they filmed.
He also said a soldier fired a fragmentation-style round inside the prison ship, seriously wounding a man’s leg, and that three or more people later suffered serious injuries from similar blast or beanbag rounds.
Jonathan Victor Lee said armed soldiers beat and shocked detainees with electric shocks inside a dark container, fracturing his right rib. “Each of us was assaulted, and several people were subjected to sexual violence. The physical and sexual abuse we endured was severe,” he said.
KFFP said medical examinations diagnosed Kim Ah-hyun with a traumatic perforated eardrum, and that Kim Dong-hyun and Jonathan Victor Lee suffered rib fractures and showed symptoms consistent with rhabdomyolysis.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the activists’ allegation about consular conduct, saying the Korean consul in Israel never asked any of the citizens, “Are you on a diet?”
It added that the embassy dispatched a consul to the airport police station to meet individually with two citizens, coordinated with Israeli authorities, and confirmed their safe departure.
After returning home, Kim Ah-hyun told reporters, “I have always planned to return to the Gaza Strip. I will continue visiting Palestine and other isolated regions around the world until Gaza gains its freedom — and even after it does.”
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