Italy is investigating Ben Gvir for alleged torture and kidnapping over Gaza flotilla video
Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir over his treatment of Gaza flotilla activists seen in a video he released last month, a judicial source said on Monday.
The video, in which he mocked and humiliated dozens of handcuffed and kneeling activists whom Israel detained after it intercepted the flotilla at sea, immediately sparked international outcry and condemnations from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
According to the Italian news agency ANSA, prosecutors are investigating allegations including torture and kidnapping of the activists, including several Italian nationals.
The investigation has been ongoing for “several weeks,” ANSA reported.
Ben Gvir responded dismissively to the reported investigations against him, saying: “Israel is not a punching bag for a gang of lying terrorists who make up slanders and lies against our fighters.”
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“I will not be deterred by this type of investigation and will continue to proudly stand alongside our fighters,” he said.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks to reporters before his party Otzma Yehudit’s weekly caucus meeting in the Knesset on May 25, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Italy was originally one of Israel’s strongest allies in Europe after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government took power in 2022. In recent years, however, Italy has steadily turned away from Israel, taking a tougher line against Israel’s actions in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon and endorsing European Union sanctions against violent Israeli settlers.
“It is unacceptable that these activists, many of whom are Italian citizens, are subjected to treatment that violates human dignity,” Meloni wrote on X less than two hours after Ben Gvir’s original post. “Italy demands an apology.”
The Italian decision followed a similar move last week from France, which said it had opened an investigation into an alleged “war crime” and “torture” related to Israel’s treatment of French citizens who took part in the flotilla.
The investigation was launched at the government’s request, the National Counterterrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) said, after activists accused Israeli authorities of ill-treatment during their detention last month.
Members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, who were en route to Gaza and were arrested and deported by Israel, pose in front of a terminal after arriving at Istanbul Airport May 21, 2026. (Photo by Ozan KOSE / AFP)
Organizers claimed that several deported flotilla activists were hospitalized with injuries from Israeli custody and that at least 15 reported sexual assaults, including rape
The Israel Prison Service has rejected the flotilla activists’ allegations of abuse, saying all detainees were held “in accordance with the law and with full respect for their fundamental rights” and received necessary and professional medical care.
When asked to respond to the allegations of physical and psychological violence, sexual harassment, assault and rape, the IPS said the allegations were “completely without any factual basis”.
Israel detained more than 430 activists from countries around the world after intercepting them in international waters starting May 18 as they made the latest in a series of attempts to break Israel’s blockade of the territory.
Israel has dismissed the flotilla as “a public relations stunt in the service of Hamas.”
Organizers said their goal was to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip by providing humanitarian aid. According to aid organizations, this is still in short supply, although a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been in effect since October 2025, which includes guarantees for an increase in aid. Israel has said that the flotillas generally carry only symbolic amounts of aid and that they refuse to hand it over for land transport to Gaza.
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