Portugal’s ambassador to Tel Aviv filed an official protest against the Israeli occupation after reports of the mistreatment of 4  Portuguese citizens who took part in the “Freedom Flotilla” to Gaza.

Portuguese MP Mariana Mortágua said the activists “were not treated humanely and were denied food and water for 48 hours” while detained in a prison near Beersheba in the Negev Desert.

Meanwhile, France Unbowed Party announced that 4 of its members — including French MPs François Piquemal and Marie Mismour, and European lawmakers Rima Hassan and Emma Forró — began a hunger strike to protest the ongoing detention of activists and Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The legal team supporting the flotilla reported that Israeli naval forces detained 473 people aboard 45 boats carrying humanitarian aid and medicine bound for the besieged Strip.