--- title: "Rome prosecutors put Israel Katz and 12 officials under investigation over flotilla abuse" description: "The inquiry into Ben-Gvir now reaches the defence minister and the army chief, built on complaints from 50 Italians detained at sea" author: "Jan Sokol" published: 2026-10-16T22:48:54Z modified: 2026-10-17T06:38:25Z url: https://rews.cc/a/rome-prosecutors-put-israel-katz-and-12-officials-under-inve-afd1f7 language: en tags: ["israel", "gaza", "protest", "politics", "law", "world"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Rome prosecutors put Israel Katz and 12 officials under investigation over flotilla abuse *The inquiry into Ben-Gvir now reaches the defence minister and the army chief, built on complaints from 50 Italians detained at sea* By Jan Sokol · October 16, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/rome-prosecutors-put-israel-katz-and-12-officials-under-inve-afd1f7 ## In brief - Rome prosecutors have put Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz and 12 senior officials, including army chief Eyal Zamir, under investigation - Suspected crimes are torture, kidnapping, personal injury, robbery and damage during flotilla interceptions in 2025 and 2026 - The case follows complaints from 50 Italians, and activists reported at least 15 sexual assaults, including rape - The probe widens an earlier inquiry into Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said in June he would stand proudly with Israeli soldiers - Prosecutors asked Israel for judicial assistance in June and held talks at Eurojust, but have not said whether Israel replied On Friday, 16 October, the prosecutors’ office in Rome added a defence minister to a list that until then had held one name. Israel Katz, who runs Israel’s armed forces, has been placed under investigation together with 12 senior military, police and prison officials, [Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/16/italy-probes-israels-katz-over-abuse-sexual-assault-of-flotilla-activists). The army chief, Eyal Zamir, is among them. The case had begun with Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister. It now runs up the chain of command. Prosecutors listed the suspected crimes as torture, kidnapping, personal injury, robbery and damage. All of them are said to have happened when Israeli forces stopped small fleets of activist boats sailing for Gaza in 2025 and 2026. According to [Ynet](https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1eqdh1nfl), the suspects include generals, naval commanders, prison officials and the heads of special units. ## Two voyages from Barcelona The boats belonged to the Global Sumud Flotilla. Its organisers say the aim was to carry humanitarian aid through Israel’s blockade of Gaza. The first mission left Barcelona in September 2025: 42 boats, 462 activists. Israel intercepted it in international waters in early October, and hundreds of people were detained and then deported. ![Five small sailboats carrying cargo cross teal water near a towering dark warship that casts a broad shadow.](https://rews.cc/img/72da074b89927393b9093865d82086406a8d948a.webp) The second left Barcelona in April 2026. The interceptions began near Crete on 30 April, the same day protesters gathered in Rome. They went on until 19 May, when the last boats were stopped off Cyprus. By then about 430 people on roughly 50 ships had been detained, again in international waters. So the sea was open and the boats were small. Against them stood the full apparatus of a state at war: a navy, a prison service, a minister with a camera. ## What the fifty said The investigation exists because 50 Italian citizens who had been detained after the two missions filed complaints. People from the 2025 voyage described beatings, injuries, death threats, insults and being called terrorists. People from the May 2026 interceptions described worse: beatings in the dark, tasers, rubber bullets. Activists reported at least 15 sexual assaults, including rape. Luca Poggi, an Italian economist who was among the detainees, gave Reuters his account in May: > “We were stripped, thrown to the ground, kicked.” On 21 May some of them landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on a flight from Istanbul. They were still wearing Israeli prison uniforms. ![Three people in gray uniforms stand with their backs turned behind a conveyor belt carrying a gray shirt, against an orange background.](https://rews.cc/img/6090bd9702471c29eaef8765d9ec7278219a9c5c.webp) ## The minister and his film Ben-Gvir supplied some of the evidence himself. After the second interception he posted a video of himself taunting activists at a makeshift prison in the port of Ashdod. They were kneeling with their hands cable-tied, and Israel’s national anthem played in the background. The footage drew condemnation from abroad, and the Italian inquiry into him followed. In June, after news of the investigation came out, he waved it away, saying he would “continue to stand proudly alongside” Israel’s soldiers. Here is a reflection, not a finding. Some rulers hide what they do, and others film it, because they expect applause at home and nothing from anywhere else. It is a bet that foreign courts will stay quiet. Rome has now called that bet with a second minister and a dozen of the people below him. ## The reach of a Roman prosecutor Italian law allows prosecutors in Rome to pursue crimes committed abroad against Italian citizens. The interceptions took place in international waters. That matters too: when a vessel is boarded there, the state whose flag it flies may claim jurisdiction over what happens on board. ![A stone column supports a long balance arm holding tied papers above a stormy Mediterranean Sea collage against a red background.](https://rews.cc/img/49d3611853a67fcb93ef0da2d0822eaa343be6ea.webp) In June the prosecutors asked Israel for judicial assistance, so they could reconstruct what happened and pin down who was responsible for what. They have not said whether Israel ever replied. They also held talks at Eurojust, the European Union’s agency for judicial cooperation, because similar investigations are under way elsewhere in Europe. Katz did not immediately respond to a request for comment, [Al-Monitor reported](https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2026/10/italy-names-senior-israelis-katz-probe-over-gaza-flotilla-activists), carrying the Reuters account. The Italian state has walked this road before, slowly. Less than three weeks ago an Italian court [convicted three Egyptian security officials](https://rews.cc/a/italy-convicts-three-egyptian-security-officials-over-the-20-efb780) over the 2016 kidnapping of Giulio Regeni. That ended a process that took most of a decade and never got the cooperation it asked Cairo for. Investigations like these move on paper: complaints, letters asking for assistance, consultations in The Hague. The men they name are usually far beyond the reach of any Italian police officer. What happens next is set out in procedure. If prosecutors decide the charges are justified, they can formally ask for a trial. Until then the list stays as it is: two ministers, an army chief, generals, naval commanders, prison officials and the heads of special units. Fifty Italian citizens, once detained at sea, are the ones asking for an answer.