Thiago Ávila returns to Brazil after detention in Israel
Environmental and human rights activist Thiago Ávila returned to Brazil on Tuesday night after being released from detention in Israel. He landed at Guarulhos Airport without luggage, following what the source describes as an illegal prison detention in Israel that was condemned by the Brazilian government. Ávila was one of seven Brazilians aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for the Palestinian people.
The text says the group departed from Barcelona on 12 April and that Ávila had said this was not his first detention ordered by Israel. On arrival in Brazil, Ávila was reportedly held inside the Federal Police area after landing.
The source says his arrival had been expected at 16h, but he remained at the police facility under the stated pretext of responding to an interrogation. It also says that this procedure was not applied in the return of another flotilla member, Mandi Coelho, according to Ávila speaking to Agência Brasil. Ávila said that he and Palestinian-Spanish activist Saif Abukeshek were taken by Israeli military personnel while aboard a vessel from the Global Sumud Flotilla.
He said the vessel had diverted from its route to Gaza to escape a storm and that they were in Crete at the time. The text states that the two activists were separated from the rest of the flotilla and transferred to Greece.
He described his confinement as extended psychological terror. According to the source, he said he was blindfolded for much of the time, unable to know whether it was day or night, and restrained with four handcuffs in a solitary cell with severely limited movement. Ávila confirmed reports that he was physically assaulted and said he fainted twice.
He said that during the detention he witnessed torture against Palestinians every day and heard Israeli soldiers say they were sparing him because that was their decision and because they had judicial authority to do so. The source says Ávila also reported that soldiers told him they wanted to kill him, keep him imprisoned for 100 years, and remove him as soon as possible.
He said they could not absorb the political cost of doing that to him in the same way they believed they could with Palestinians, because of what he described as global government complicity and a campaign of dehumanization. Ávila used his return to repeat accusations against Israeli authorities and to argue that the flotilla exposes international complicity. He said that while humanitarian aid is blocked or criminalized, other ships transporting materiel used for Israeli weapons move freely across the Mediterranean, according to his remarks in the source.
The text also includes broader allegations and references to the Gaza war, including a claim from the United Nations that the violence since October 2023 has caused "destruction and suffering of unprecedented levels." It says the UN has reported 38 attacks on health care in the West Bank since January, with four facilities and 33 ambulances hit. It also notes that in December 2024 pediatrician Hussam Abu Safiya was seized by Israeli forces from Kamal Adwan Hospital, described as the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza at the time.
The source further cites UN data on donor states to the occupied Palestinian territory humanitarian fund, listing Finland, Belgium, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
