Dr Margaret Connolly says conditions of Israeli detention centre akin to 'concentration camp' with regular beatings and sexual assaults

Fourteen Irish activists captured during the Global Sumud Flotilla aid mission to Gaza were held by the Israel Defence Forces. Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee confirmed that all detained activists are now safe in Turkey and are due to return home on Saturday. Dr Margaret Connolly, detained in Israel, described conditions as comparable to a concentration camp, with torture and beatings occurring regularly. She said they were held against their will on a warship described as a prison ship. She reported widespread injuries including fractures, head injuries, eye and ear injuries, laser injuries, and sexual assaults. She alleged bullets were shot at people’s feet and detainees were forced to kneel in painful positions for extended periods. She also described burns, lack of pain relief, freezing conditions, denial of water, and absence of toilet paper, medicine, and sanitary products for women.

"“We were kidnapped and abducted and held against our will on a warship, which was a prison ship”, she told Drivetime onRTÉ Radio 1. "My colleagues experienced 35 fractures, five head injuries, there was 15 sexual assaults, eye injuries, ear injuries, huge number of laser injuries.""

"“We walked among lots of people with fractures who screamed and howled in pain all night long and we had no pain relief,” she said. "People in agony, people freezing and cold with hypothermia, no clothes, drenched clothes. "Every time they picked up a ship, they [activists] were fired like rats onto ground and had to wait for their colleagues to pick them up and share tissues. When we asked for water, they refused.”"

"“I have a huge burn on my back where the sun beat upon us for hours.” She also alleged that bullets were shot at people's feet and that people were “bent down like hogs” and forced to kneel in excruciating positions for extended periods of time."

"She also said the IDF provided no toilet paper, medicine or sanitary towels for women while they mocked the detainees for their suffering."

Read at Irish Independent