On May 18, 2026, Israeli authorities arrested Diederick Willem Groenewoud, a journalist with Dutch broadcaster BNNVARA while on the Ramle, a vessel in the Global Sumud Flotilla, an aid convoy attempting to break the blockade on Gaza.
The Dutch journalist was among the flotilla participants deported to Istanbul, Turkey, on May 21, after three days and three nights in Israeli custody.
Speaking to the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant after his release, Groenewoud alleged that flotilla participants were subjected to severe mistreatment while in Israeli custody. "It goes beyond a beating, we really saw everything," he said. "People were doused with water and then tasered with stun guns, beaten by several people." Groenewoud said he was "shocked” by his experience and by what he saw and heard being done to other people and described the treatment as "inhumane, simply absurd." He also alleged that Israeli forces physically assaulted him during detention, recalling that "they lifted me horizontally, my arms in my neck, and took me to a tent. There they gave me a good beating, on my ribs." According to Groenewoud, the abuse was "very systematic and structured," rather than the result of isolated misconduct by individual soldiers.
Adalah, a Palestinian-run legal rights group representing some of the detainees, told CPJ that all detainees had faced alleged abuses, including restricted access to lawyers, humiliation, and violence.
In a video published on X, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir can be heard yelling, “welcome to Israel, we are the landlords,” while waving a large Israeli flag over dozens of detainees kneeling side by side on the floor, their hands tied behind their backs and their heads lowered to the ground. Another video shows security forces violently throwing a handcuffed activist to the ground after the activist shouts “free Palestine” at Ben Gvir. The minister also said the detainees should be imprisoned for “a long, long time.”
In response to an email requesting comment, the Israel Defense Forces told CPJ it “rejects allegations of abuse by IDF soldiers during the operations,” adding that any “concrete complaints submitted to the IDF on the matter will be examined thoroughly.” CPJ’s email requesting comment from the office of Ben-Gvir did not receive a response.