Spanish Police Arrest Global Sumud Flotilla Activists After Batons Video at Bilbao Airport

Spanish police arrested four Global Sumud Flotilla activists at Bilbao Airport after clashes broke out following the return of members of the Spanish delegation from Turkey, and footage showed officers dragging activists across the terminal floor and striking them with batons.

“Home News Business Energy Opinion Lifestyle Sports Video Podcast Home News Business Energy Opinion Lifestyle Sports Video Podcast Close the sidebar Home News Middle East A Palestinian woman takes visuals using her phone at the site of an Israeli strike on a house that was pre-warned by the Israeli military to evacuate before the strike was carried out late on Monday, in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip May 19, 2026”

Al Arabiya English

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares condemned what he described as the “monstrous,” “inhumane,” and “disgraceful” treatment of activists aboard the Gaza-bound flotilla, while Israel’s Foreign Ministry seized on the Bilbao footage to demand an explanation from Spain and accuse the flotilla activists of bringing disorder wherever they go.

Al Jazeera

The confrontation seemingly began after six members of the Spanish flotilla delegation posed for cameras following their arrival from Turkey, and the Basque Security Department said its Interior Department had opened an investigation to determine whether the officers’ actions complied with current regulations.

In parallel, France announced a formal entry ban on Saturday against Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he mocked restrained activists captured by Israeli troops on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid convoy, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot saying, “From today, Itamar Ben Gvir is banned from entering French territory.”

France said the travel ban followed intense international condemnation sparked by a video Ben Gvir published on Wednesday, showing dozens of detainees forced to kneel with their foreheads pressed to the ground and their hands zip-tied.

In the same context of international pressure, the Mint report said Israel announced it was deporting the individuals, while it also described Netanyahu criticizing Ben Gvir’s conduct as detached from “Israel’s values and norms,” yet allowing him to retain his cabinet post.

Al-Jazeera Net

Al Jazeera’s coverage of Gaza attacks described an Israeli air strike that killed at least five police officers and a 13-year-old boy, with Gaza police saying two missiles had hit a police post in the at-Tuam area in northern Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said, “This is not an isolated incident, it’s part of the pattern that the Israeli military, not only since the ceasefire started,” linking the strike to a broader pattern of targeting police and law enforcement structures.

Multiple outlets tied the latest Gaza strike to the police force that Hamas-run authorities rely on, with TRT World saying an Israeli air strike targeting a Palestinian police post in northern Gaza killed at least five officers and wounded several others.

“The Israeli occupation army shelled several areas in the Gaza Strip during the past hours, causing martyrs and injuries, while the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said that the Israeli escalation represents a clear breach of the agreements reached under mediation”

Al-Jazeera Net

The Gaza Interior Ministry, as carried by وكالة سبأ, said Israeli warplanes bombed a police station in the Al-Tuam area north of Gaza City with at least two missiles, killing five police officers and personnel and wounding others.

Al Jazeera reported that attacks on Gaza’s police force “further threaten the distribution of aid,” and it quoted Mahmoud warning that the strikes were “worsening a power vacuum” while making it harder to secure aid convoys and increasing “the possibility of hijacking and looting”.

In the same Al Jazeera report, the UNRWA agency for Palestinian refugees said Palestinian children in Gaza were suffering from an increase in skin infections due to a surge in pests, and it added that “usually this would be easily managed with simple remedies, but they are not available.”