The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has confirmed that the Hispano-Palestinian activist Saif Abukeshek “is already flying free to Spain” and has thanked the work of the Spanish embassy in Israel, Athens, and the Foreign Ministry team. According to the Global Sumud Flotilla, Abukeshek will land in Barcelona, reports Ignacio Ladrón de Guevara.
Our compatriot Saif Abukeshek is already flying free to Spain, where he will reunite with his family and loved ones in the coming hours.
I thank the work of @EmbEspIsrael, @EmbEspAtenas and the @MAECgob team.
Protecting Spaniards is the absolute priority.
— José Manuel Albares (@jmalbares) May 10, 2026
“Our compatriot Saif Abukeshek is already flying free to Spain, where he will reunite with his family and loved ones in the coming hours,” Albares said on the social network X, where he specified that “protecting Spaniards is the absolute priority.” From Catalonia, the Minister of Foreign Action of the Generalitat, Jaume Duch, also celebrated the release and repatriation on social media. “It is good news. However, it must be remembered that his illegal detention should never have occurred. The Government thanks the Ministry and those who have contributed to ending this situation under very complicated conditions,” he wrote.
The release and repatriation of Saif Abukeshek is good news, but we must remember that his -illegal- detention should never have occurred.
We thank the help of the @MAECgob and those who have contributed to ending this complicated situation.
— Jaume Duch (@jduch) May 10, 2026
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Sunday morning that it had deported the Hispano-Palestinian activist Saif Abukeshek and his Brazilian companion Thiago Ávila, members of the Global Sumud Flotilla who had been imprisoned in Israel for more than a week.
The two activists were never formally charged in Israel. The court had been extending their detention without charges at the request of the intelligence services to investigate them. They were mainly interrogated about their work in the flotilla, which they helped organize and in which they participated until April 30, when the Israeli army boarded about twenty of their boats in international waters of the Mediterranean. It then released 175 activists in Greece and, surprisingly, detained and took Abukeshek and Ávila to Israel.
The Global Sumud Flotilla has also reported the release of Abukeshek by Israeli authorities “after six brutal days” detained in a prison in the south of the country. “We must continue mobilizing until Palestine is free. This is just one step on the way. Our comrades keep sailing,” Abukeshek said in a video released by the organization upon his arrival in Athens.
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