Spain has opened an investigation into two senior Israeli military officials over the detention of activists on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza in October last year.

Spain has opened an investigation into two senior Israeli military officials over the detention of activists on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza in October last year.

Israeli forces abducted around 500 people from 44 countries sailing on 40 vessels loaded with aid amid Israel’s genocidal blockade of the enclave. Flotilla activists reported being beaten, sexually assaulted and tortured while in detention.

The complaint was submitted to Spain’s National Court by activists, supported by a coalition of leftwing groups including the Communist Party of Spain.

The Spanish court’s investigation will only focus on what happened on vessels flying the Spanish flag, since this is where the country has jurisdiction, judge Francisco de Jorge said at a hearing on Friday.

The judge will ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to clarify if the flotilla detentions fall under its investigation into Israeli genocide and war crimes in Palestine, and whether the Spanish probe might conflict with the ICC’s work.

​Israeli troops boarded vessels around 70 nautical miles from Gaza, the judge noted, “many of them flying the Spanish flag and under Spanish jurisdiction, forcibly taking control of these ships and destroying numerous objects.”

Crew members were taken to Ketziot maximum security prison where “continuous and systematic torture was allegedly carried out,” he added.

​But he said the probe will not cover what happened at Ketziot prison and dismissed complaints against Yosef Knipes, the head of Ketziot prison, and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prison system.

​The probe will focus instead on Eyal Zamir, chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), El Pais reported. Retired Israeli naval commander Ram Rothberg is also under investigation, according to the newspaper, but public records show he has not served since 2016.

Ahead of last year’s abductions, Spain sent a warship to protect the flotilla in international waters, but the vessel stayed behind after the activists’ boats neared the coast and entered territory that Israel controls amid its illegal occupation of Gaza.

Several other investigations are underway in different countries after Israeli forces illegally intercepted a second flotilla in May this year. Organisers have submitted evidence of torture and sexual violence to the International Criminal Court.

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