Brazilian activist Thiago Avilla is seen in detention in Ashkelon, Israel [Ohad Zwigenberg/The Associated Press]By Al Jazeera StaffPublished On 2 Sep 20262 Sep 2026
A Brazilian activist has demanded the release of four Tunisian colleagues who were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla that attempted to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid last year.
Activists from multiple countries around the world boarded dozens of boats, launching the flotilla in August 2025, to carry life-saving supplies to Gaza. They were subsequently intercepted by Israel, with those on board detained.
Israeli authorities released Nabil Channoufi, Ghassan Henchiri, Ghassan Boughdiri, and Wael Naouar from prison and they returned to Tunisia in October. Fellow activists said Tunisian “counterterrorism” police rearrested the four in February, after they announced a new flotilla mission to carry aid to Gaza.
“It’s been so long, my dear friends,” said Brazilian activist Thiago Avila, in a video message posted on social media on Tuesday.
“I’m writing to you this letter after 170 days since you’ve been arrested while mobilising solidarity with Palestine through our peaceful mission of the Global Sumud Flotilla to break the illegal siege of Gaza,” he said.
In March, the United Kingdom-based news site the Morning Star reported that the activists were detained by the Tunisian National Guard financial crimes unit for alleged money laundering, fraud and misuse of funds collected through flotilla campaign donations.
They have been held in Tunis’s Mornaguia Prison for more than five months, according to family members and fellow activists. Tunisia’s government has not publicly commented on the situation.
“No one should be detained and separated from their families for acting in solidarity with a people victim of a genocide,” Avila said.
“No one, especially in Tunisia, where the people are connected with Palestine with all their hearts and [where they] supported our mission even in the hardest circumstances.”
Avila said that a hunger strike by Wael Naouar has stretched on for at least seven days. The activist added he and Naouar had taken a similar action while held in Israeli detention last year.
“You’ve been fainting, throwing up blood, and with a critical medical condition,” he said.
Israel imposed an air, land and sea blockade on Gaza to prevent food, water, medicine and other supplies from entering the enclave since 2007, when Hamas took control of Gaza. That blockade was intensified in October 2023 amid Israel’s genocidal war that followed Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is an international network of organisations that has launched multiple missions to Gaza since 2010, including the Sumud Flotilla, to deliver humanitarian aid.
Beyond last year’s Sumud mission, organisers also launched a flotilla this year that was intercepted by Israeli forces in April.
Activists have accused Tunisia’s government of seeking to stop the flotillas, which have regularly used the Sidi Bou Said port in the country’s north to organise.
Beyond the arrests, activists have accused the government of banning gatherings and other events related to the flotillas.
