Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir faces international backlash after taunting detained activists from a flotilla attempting to deliver aid to Gaza. Reports of sexual assault during detention have led to condemnation from multiple countries, including France and the US.
Key points
Itamar Ben-Gvir taunted detained activists from a flotilla.
Footage of the incident sparked international outrage.
At least 15 activists reported sexual assault during detention.
France banned Ben-Gvir from entering its territory.
Multiple countries condemned Israel's actions.
Mentioned in this story
Itamar Ben-GvirIsraeli governmentGaza
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has a track record of taunting blindfolded detainees. In the past, he has been accompanied by camera crews as he toured Israeli prisons holding Palestinian detainees.
This week, Ben-Gvir was seen on camera gloating over a group of largely foreign activists who were forced to kneel on the floor with their arms bound after Israeli forces detained their flotilla in international waters. This was part of an attempt by activists from across the world to break the siege of Gaza and deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid.
France banned Ben-Gvir from entering its territory, while more than a dozen governments, including Italy, Canada, Spain, Ireland, Germany and South Korea, summoned Israeli ambassadors or issued formal condemnations after the brutal detention of their citizens.
Even US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said Ben-Gvir had “betrayed the dignity of his nation”, a rare rebuke of an Israeli minister by an American official.
By Sunday, President Isaac Herzog, who occupies a largely ceremonial role, felt compelled to respond to the crisis publicly, condemning settler violence as “brutishness” that “threatens us all”, and saying it must be “forbidden to abuse prisoners”. Ben-Gvir responded in a social media post by calling for Herzog’s removal from office.
Khan al-Ahmar demolition orders and ‘creeping annexation’ legislation
While the flotilla scandal dominated international headlines, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the advancement of the long-threatened demolition of Khan al-Ahmar — the Bedouin village in the strategic E1 corridor, east of Jerusalem, whose destruction has so far been prevented by international pressure.
The far-right minister has explicitly framed the expansion of the occupied West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, as retaliation for the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant request against him.
Q&A
What actions did Itamar Ben-Gvir take regarding the detained flotilla activists?
Itamar Ben-Gvir was seen on camera taunting detained activists who were forced to kneel with their arms bound after their flotilla was intercepted by Israeli forces.
What international reactions followed Ben-Gvir's actions towards the flotilla detainees?
Ben-Gvir's actions triggered significant international backlash, with France banning him from entry and several countries summoning Israeli ambassadors or issuing formal condemnations.
How many activists reported sexual assault during their detention?
Reports indicate that at least 15 activists were subjected to sexual assault during their detention by Israeli forces.
What did US Ambassador Mike Huckabee say about Ben-Gvir's conduct?
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee stated that Ben-Gvir had 'betrayed the dignity of his nation,' marking a rare rebuke of an Israeli minister by an American official.
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“The Palestinian Authority has started a war, and it’ll get a war,” Smotrich told Israeli media.
The week also saw the Knesset Education Committee fast-tracking a bill to establish a heritage authority for the West Bank and Gaza, granting Israeli civilian bodies powers over archaeological sites across Areas A, B and C and in Gaza.
The committee’s legal adviser warned the body “contradicts international agreements” Israel has signed and that “Israel does not have any civil powers in the Gaza Strip”, according to The Times of Israel. The Israeli military separately said it opposed the bill’s application to Gaza – the Palestinian territory Israel still largely occupies – warning it could be seen as de facto annexation.
West Bank: Demolitions and attacks
In this political backdrop, notorious settler leader Elisha Yared this week published a map documenting 219 illegal shepherding outposts that have been established across the West Bank, which he said “continues on a weekly basis” towards “the complete land of Israel”, likely referring to occupied Palestinian land.
Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, saw another series of raids and arrests by Israeli forces this week. On May 21, Israeli forces set fire to farmland west of the village using tear gas canisters and fired on locals who tried to extinguish the flames, according to the Wafa news agency.
Soldiers also discharged tear gas canisters at a boys’ school — where a settler killed two Palestinians on April 21 — for a third consecutive week.
In an early morning raid on May 22, approximately 20 soldiers beat activist Mohammed Abu Naim, punching him in the face and whipping him with a belt, while ransacking four homes and arresting children in al-Mughayyir.
In Ein el-Hilweh in the northern Jordan Valley, Israeli bulldozers demolished residential structures and animal shelters belonging to the Daraghmeh family on May 20.
Letters to the Israeli military from the family’s lawyer, sent in April, had argued that the Bedouin shepherd family had lived there for decades — some members since before 1967 — and that demolishing the homes would amount to forced displacement that would destroy their housing and livelihood. The letters accused Israeli authorities of rejecting the family’s legalisation and housing requests without seriously considering alternative living arrangements suitable for a shepherding community. It invoked international law protections against forcible transfer in occupied territory, requested a freeze on demolition orders while a licensing request was pending, and demanded explanations and records related to the rejection.
But the letters were never answered. Instead, as the bulldozers pulled down the family’s homes and animal shelters, soldiers accompanied by a settler prevented Red Crescent workers from delivering a tent to the displaced family and confiscated their vehicle.
Ein el-Hilweh is the last remaining Palestinian community on Road 5799 – the only one that directly connects the northern Jordan Valley to Tubas, with three surrounding communities already fully displaced in 2026.
In Rantis, west of Ramallah, Israeli forces demolished two homes without warning on May 19: one housing a woman and her son and the other a family of nine, including seven children.
Their swift destruction left the forcibly displaced residents without any time to collect their belongings before the properties were levelled, according to local activist networks. Israeli forces demolished a cement factory in Kharbatha Bani Harith and a house in Shuqba.
Early on May 25, the Israeli military, the Israeli Civil Administration and the Jordan Valley Regional Council’s lands inspection started a large confiscation operation of vehicles, tractors and water tanks in firing zones 900, 901, 902, 903 and 904, stretching across al-Farsiya, al-Jiftlik, Khirbet Hamsa and Ras el-Ahmar.
In Silwan’s al-Bustan neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, three bulldozers accompanied by police began further demolitions on May 25, with 57 of the neighbourhood’s 115 homes already reduced to rubble in recent months, according to Silwan activists.
At the same time, settler attacks continued across dozens of communities. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) May 25 humanitarian situation report, more than 50 settler attacks, which resulted in casualties or property damage, were documented in the occupied West Bank in just one week.
This brings the total of settler attacks across more than 220 communities in 2026 to 870. In the past week, settlers burned vehicles in Halhul; razed farmland in Beit Ummar; cut electricity poles in Madama; destroyed olive trees in Wadi al-Sha’ar and Qaryut; and assaulted the Shanaran family in Wadi al-Rakhim, according to reports from local activist networks and Wafa.
On May 24, Israeli soldiers detained more than a dozen residents in Burin, southwest of Nablus. All but one were later released, after being beaten by Israeli forces, according to local activists.
Gaza: Police targeted, and a reconstruction plan without funding
At least 27 Palestinians were killed in Gaza over the past week, as Israel continues to violate a “ceasefire” covering the Palestinian territory.
In the early hours of May 24, an Israeli air attack killed Mohammad Abu Mallouh, 38, his wife Alaa Zaqlan, 36, and their six-month-old son Osama in a residential apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
A day earlier, five police officers and a 13-year-old boy were also killed when an Israeli jet struck a police post in northern Gaza.
A shepherd, Rafat Breika, 42, was killed by an Israeli drone near Rafah on May 22, while a displaced people’s tent in al-Mawasi was struck on May 21, killing one, according to Wafa.
Israeli forces also demolished residential buildings in eastern Khan Younis and the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City throughout the week. More than 150 families fled eastern Khan Younis and eastern Gaza City following tank movements and bombings, according to OCHA.
Since the October 11 “ceasefire”, 904 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed; the cumulative death toll since October 7, 2023, stands at 72,797, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, the political framework meant to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza revealed new strains among its members.
The Trump-appointed Board of Peace admitted to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that it could not operate its institutions properly due to a funding shortfall, with only approximately 1 percent of the pledged $17bn actually transferred, according to Israeli media reports.
Nickolay Mladenov, a member of the Gaza Executive Board, which operates under the US-led Board of Peace, warned the UNSC that the enclave’s deteriorating conditions risk becoming “permanent”, saying, “implementation cannot advance through Palestinian obligations alone”.
The United States asked Israel to redirect withheld Palestinian tax revenues to the Board of Peace. However, Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich refused, arguing it would give the Palestinian Authority a foothold in Gaza.
In Gaza, the humanitarian situation remains at a crisis level. According to OCHA’s May 25 humanitarian situation report, only half of all aid trucks from Egypt were able to offload their cargo at Israeli crossings in the first 18 days of May.
Some 1.7 million people are sheltering in approximately 1,600 displacement sites in Gaza – nearly 88 percent of the population living in makeshift conditions.
UN agencies launched a pest control campaign targeting more than 1,700 locations across the besieged Palestinian territory, but warned that a full response requires action at Gaza’s sanitary landfills. These remain inaccessible due to restrictions by Israeli forces.
The Gaza Ministry of Health warned this week that 250 Palestinians suffering kidney failure risk losing dialysis access – a potential death sentence if nothing is done about the situation.
Meanwhile, 11,000 diabetic patients face insulin shortages, and 110 Palestinians with haemophilia are without essential treatment. It comes amid a healthcare system collapse that has seen 76 percent of Gaza’s medical imaging equipment destroyed, including all nine MRI units, with only five of 18 CT scanners functioning.
Also, for the third consecutive year, Israel blocked Muslims from Gaza from performing the Hajj pilgrimage.
