Dawn
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19:40 May 24, 2026
Pakistan, along with seven other nations, condemned on Sunday the “appalling, degrading, and unacceptable actions of extremist Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir” against participants in the Gaza-bound flotilla while they were in Israeli detention. Last week, Israel’s far-right national security minister posted a video on showing the detained activists kneeling with their hands tied and foreheads on the ground, sparking international condemnation. The video, shared on X by the firebrand minister, was published after Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla’s vessels at sea and began detaining hundreds of foreign activists at the southern port of Ashdod. The footage also shows Ben Gvir heckling and waving an Israeli flag among the detained activists. Later, the flotilla’s organisers said the activists were subjected to abuse in Israeli custody, with several hospitalised for injuries and at least 15 reporting sexual assaults, including rape. On Sunday, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Turkiye, Indonesia, ...