Rome – Many Italians watched the skies and the lights of Malpensa Airport in Milan and Fiumicino Airport in Rome to welcome dozens of Italian activists returning from the global Freedom Flotilla to break the Gaza blockade, after their release from Israel. They arrived on Turkish Airlines flights following a journey from Eilat to Istanbul, then two flights to Italy.

The arrival of the Freedom Flotilla activists was a moment of celebration and tears, as the welcoming crowd raised Palestinian flags and banners reading “The wind cannot be stopped… Free Palestine.”

Chants mixed with applause and hugs among families, friends, and activists in a scene reflecting both joy and sorrow, shared by Italians during a “White Night” reception for the activists.

Among them was Yassine Laferme, an Italian of Moroccan origin and president of the Union of Islamic Communities, who was greeted by a crowd of supporters at Malpensa in Milan, while other groups arrived at Fiumicino in Rome, completing the return of 18 activists out of 26 released.

Meanwhile, 15 other activists remain in Israeli custody due to their refusal to sign voluntary release documents, in solidarity with colleagues who do not hold Western passports, including prominent members of the Maghreb delegation: Tunisian Wael Nawar, a member of the general leadership of the global Freedom Flotilla, and Moroccan Aziz Ghali, vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights. Israeli forces treated them differently compared to other Maghreb activists due to their leadership roles, according to a source familiar with the flotilla speaking to Al Jazeera.

Among the detainees who refused to sign the voluntary release was the Italian-Moroccan thirty-year-old Abdelrahman Amagu, president of the global organization “Action Aid” Italy branch, who maintained direct contact with Al Jazeera throughout the flotilla’s journey towards Gaza, sharing daily updates with photos, videos, and audio, maintaining contact until half an hour before the raid on the “Paola Uno” boat, which he co-led.

At the celebration of the freed activists, the attendees did not forget the tragedy of the other detained Italians, as Yassine Laferme stood as a lawyer pleading before cameras and phone screens broadcasting his arrival, defending his colleagues.

“There are other activists isolated from the world, unaware that we have arrived. We must exert great pressure on the Italian government and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza – to release our citizens.” – Yassine Laferme

Laferme added, “They are held in one of the worst prisons in northern Israel, just 10 kilometers from the Gaza border. It is the same prison where Palestinian children from Gaza are held.”

The suffering of the global Freedom Flotilla activists to break the Gaza siege was not limited to prison cells but began from the first moment on the flotilla, where Israeli soldiers seized the boats and forcibly arrested activists, in blatant violation of international waters and laws, according to legal associations’ statements reviewed by Al Jazeera.

Yassine bitterly described the events in the presence of the secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, who received him at the airport, saying, “There was a blatant violation of all humanitarian standards. We were kidnapped in the heart of the sea, where Israeli soldiers approached us and forcibly took us to Ashdod port. The flotilla did not violate any international law; it was in international waters, yet we were treated like terrorists.”

Italian journalist Lorenzo Dagostino, who witnessed the operation firsthand, corroborated Yassine’s account, saying, “I was unlucky to go through border inspection in front of Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir himself, who came to take a selfie with us while calling us terrorists.”

He added, “This angered his guards further, who used the opportunity to tighten plastic handcuffs on our hands with maximum force, leaving us for 4 hours in freezing cold with the air conditioning on full blast, while we wore only light shirts after being forced to strip.”

Dagostino, sharing his testimony with colleagues and friends at the airport upon arrival, confirmed “a continuous series of humiliations: no sleeping allowed inside the prison, as every two hours they storm the cells, forcibly waking us and throwing us off the beds.”

The horrific scenes continued, according to the Italian journalist’s account: “Overcrowded cells, sleeping on the floor or shared mattresses, unleashed dogs, laser beams directed at detainees’ bodies, and constant transfers from one cell to another to inflict psychological torture.”

All this was part of the experience lived by Yassine and his colleagues, which he sees as an extension of “the humiliation of human dignity under the pretext of security, while the flotilla was in international waters.”

A wave of solidarity with the other 15 activists detained in Israeli prisons has risen through solidarity posts and protest vigils by families and friends, expected to be organized next Sunday, likely gaining popular momentum early next week to pressure Giorgia Meloni’s government to intervene.

“Our citizens detained in Israel do not know we have returned, and we must continue to act until they come home,” says Yassine Laferme, who warned of his colleagues’ suffering from being moved between cells day and night as a form of psychological torture, noting “this situation is still ongoing with the detainees.”

The forty-year-old Laferme addressed people about his friends’ suffering, but Gaza took the largest share, as he paused intermittently in the Malpensa airport hall, surrounded by family and friends, heading towards the family car with eyes shining with concern and determination, surrounded by tears and wishes for the detained activists’ return. He expressed a sense of responsibility towards them, saying, “We must continue the movement until they all return, for none of us has any notable crime.”

He added, describing the trials they underwent, “We faced sham trials, placed in a small room before a judge, and at the end of the session, there was no justice or fairness, only an attempt to legitimize arbitrary detention and forced transfer.”

Between the joy of return and the pain of the absence of other activists, many returning activists, like Yassine, insist on “keeping the compass directed towards Gaza first before the global Freedom Flotilla,” which Italians supported as a protest icon representing a living community shouting at its government and the international community alike.

There are scheduled protest events in the coming days and weeks around Gaza by Italians, as if to tell the world that “freedom is not just about activists arriving at the airport, but a continuous act demanding the rights of the voiceless Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories,” said student Andrea Lombardo to Al Jazeera.