Activists who were forcibly detained by Israeli forces while sailing to Gaza with humanitarian aid say they’ve been facing abuse and threats from authorities while held in inhumane conditions — but are pleading for the public to stay focused on Israel’s destructive campaign in the walled-off Palestinian territory.

Israeli naval forces intercepted the Madleen in international waters early Monday and detained all 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and European Parliament member Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian. The civilian boat sailed from Italy with the goal of delivering aid to Gaza and creating a maritime humanitarian corridor for the starving enclave to break Israel’s deadly siege.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which organized the humanitarian mission, said that Israeli forces told detained activists to sign a document admitting “illegal entry into Israeli territory” in order to be deported back to their home countries. While four of them have since been deported, all of the activists strongly rejected Israel’s claim of unlawful entry.

“I did not recognize that I entered the country illegally,” Thunberg told reporters upon arriving in France on Tuesday, saying the document she signed did not include that requirement. “I made it very clear in my testimonial that we were kidnapped on international waters and brought there against our own will and into Israel.”

The activists say authorities were also threatening and abusive. Dr. Baptiste André, a French member of the crew who returned from detention, recalled “acts of abuse” by Israeli forces against the activists — especially to Thunberg, who later said that any conditions she faced “were absolutely nothing compared to what people are going through in Palestine.”

“As soon as she fell asleep, the immigration services would come and wake her up” by playing loud music and dancing, André said on Tuesday. He also alleged that detainees experienced “difficulties in accessing water and food,” and had no access to toilets.

“As soon as one of the officers felt that I was starting to understand a little of what they were doing, he approached me and said to me, ‘Why are you like this and why do you smell bad?’” crew member and Al Jazeera journalist Omar Faiad said upon returning to France. “I told him, ‘You haven’t let us rest for three days.’”

Eight of the Madleen passengers remain in custody as of Wednesday, according to Adalah, the Palestinian legal group representing the activists. Among the eight is Hassan, who Faiad said was threatened by Israeli forces for refusing to sign the deportation documents.

“I heard the officer directly threatening her, ‘I’ll smash your head against the wall if you don’t sign. We’ll handle this our way,’” Faiad recalled. Thunberg also said that fellow volunteers were treated “obviously in a very dehumanizing way.”

Hassan was first placed in Givon Prison before Israeli forces put her in solitary confinement at the Neve Tirza Prison for writing “Free Palestine” on a wall, according to the FFC. In isolation, she stayed in a “small, windowless cell with extremely poor hygienic conditions and has been denied access to the prison yards.” On Wednesday, she was moved back to Givon.

The European Parliament member is not the only passenger who was allegedly isolated. Brazilian activist Thiago Avila was taken to solitary confinement in Ayalon Prison after he started a hunger and thirst strike. Israeli forces have blocked efforts by both the embassy and Avila’s lawyer to speak with his family, according to his wife, Lara.

“He told [his lawyer] that he was threatened by the Israeli forces and that they said that he would have no contact with anyone — not even his lawyer — that he would be there alone with no light, with no ventilation and, well, you know that’s psychological torture,” Lara Avila said in a recording on Wednesday.

A ruling Wednesday by the Israeli Detention Review Tribunal upheld the decision to hold the remaining eight volunteers in custody, and scheduled the next court hearing for July 8 if the activists aren’t deported before then. Adalah called the ruling “legal cover to arbitrary detention that could last for more than a month, without any judicial oversight, in violation of international law and activists’ rights.”

“Under international law, the detention of the eight remaining flotilla members is arbitrary, unlawful and must be immediately terminated and remedied,” U.N. special rapporteur Francesca Albanese posted Wednesday on X. “The boat must be released. The states of nationality of the unlawfully detained, have an obligation to intervene, decisively and without delay.”

Many of the crew members who have spoken out maintain that the public should focus less on their situation and more on what they and many in the international community now call Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Israeli forces continue to drop bombs on Palestinians and any life-sustaining infrastructure while allowing minimal aid into the territory via a militarized distribution system — which has resulted in soldiers shooting at starving people in line for food.

“Please keep your focus on Gaza. People are starving, children are starving. Entire families are surviving without clean water, without food, without medicine – and this is happening on our watch,” detained activist Yasemin Acar said in a message read by her brother. “And by looking away, by staying silent, we’re complicit. There comes a point where looking away becomes a crime, and we’re there now.”

“Delivering aid is not a crime. Taking us against our will in international waters, is,” the message continued. “But our kidnapping is nothing compared to what’s happening in Gaza. Please keep your focus on the real issue.”