Anna Liedtke endured a third unauthorized strip-search while held by Israeli authorities when female prison staff pushed her to her knees, blocked her mouth to muffle her cries and carried out a rape, based on her accounts and a formal complaint lodged inside Israel.

She recalled male officers laughing nearby during the incident, which she suspects they observed and possibly recorded. The event unfolded behind a partially open curtain that separated the space from the main prison corridor.

The 25-year-old joined a humanitarian flotilla that departed Europe for Gaza last fall. Israeli forces stopped her vessel in international waters on 8 October and transferred her to Israel for five days of detention.

Liedtke stated that the mistreatment and aggression faced by flotilla members inside Israeli facilities, including sexual violence, served to intimidate participants. She explained that officials sought to crush resolve and discourage further discussion of Palestinian issues by creating lasting trauma.

She shared details with friends and medical staff soon afterward. In December she became the first flotilla member to speak openly about rape during Israeli detention, prompting more than a dozen additional reports of sexual misconduct, many submitted without names attached.

Her Israeli legal team has now submitted a formal complaint urging officials to probe the claims. Under Israeli statutes, rape encompasses any non-consensual penetration.

In her initial comments on the legal filing, Liedtke emphasized she feels no shame and stressed that silence only allows such acts to continue against others.

The complaint, directed to the attorney general, the Israel Prison Service legal adviser, the Department for the Investigation of Prison Guards and the Givon prison commander, confronts what her counsel Muna Haddad described as a pattern of unaccountability for prisoner mistreatment.

Haddad, representing the group Adalah, noted that Liedtke aims to pursue accountability through every channel while testing how Israeli institutions handle demands for an inquiry into these events. She added that sexual violence against Palestinian detainees has persisted for years and now appears to extend toward foreign supporters of Palestinian causes.

By rejecting shame, Liedtke has incorporated the experience into her advocacy, speaking for those still detained or at future risk. She described her decision to speak as a duty tied to her political stance, acknowledging that it will not end such practices but highlighting the broader, systematic nature of the issue and noting it falls far short of the suffering endured by Palestinian prisoners.

Israel has normalized the use of torture against Palestinian inmates, with some officials praising mistreatment of foreign activists and rejecting efforts to prosecute soldiers over documented cases of assault and rape.

The United Nations added Israel to a list concerning sexual violence in conflict zones in May, referencing abuses by security personnel that included rape of male detainees. Britain recently voiced similar concerns at the UN Security Council.

Australian authorities are examining rape and torture claims from flotilla members dating to May, while French prosecutors have launched a war crimes probe into suspected torture and mistreatment of their nationals in Israeli custody.

Liedtke received briefings from earlier flotilla participants before departing southern Italy on 30 September aboard a former ferry carrying roughly 100 activists. She attempted to steel herself for possible violence, including sexual assault, yet later realized full preparation was unattainable.

She observed that anticipating an assault differs sharply from experiencing it, as bodily reactions remain unpredictable despite prior knowledge.

Her current guidance to fellow activists blends political resolve with practical insight, urging strong conviction in the mission and acceptance that nothing fully readies one for such events.

On 8 October around 4:30 a.m., the captain alerted passengers that Israeli forces were boarding. The troops directed activists to the canteen and redirected the vessel to the port of Ashdod, arriving that evening.

During processing, a German-speaking officer reportedly called Liedtke a Nazi slut. The first sexual assault followed during a strip-search. Israeli regulations require detainee consent for such searches, with senior approval and written authorization needed if consent is withheld. Searches must occur in closed rooms with only female officers present and involve visual inspection only.

Liedtke refused the search yet was compelled to disrobe in a space only partly shielded by a curtain, exposing her to passing male soldiers who stared directly at her.

She declined to sign deportation documents that would imply illegal entry, given she had been brought to Israel by force from international waters.

That night she was transported blindfolded and handcuffed to Ketziot prison for another non-consensual strip-search while fully naked. She questioned the need for a repeat search hours after the first. Those who complied retained their underwear.

Issued prison garments, she entered a filthy cell lacking clean water. Loud music, repeated cell searches involving dogs and sleep deprivation marked the night, accompanied by distant screams from elsewhere in the facility.

On 10 October she moved to Givon prison. There, again behind a partially drawn curtain, she was ordered to strip. Upon refusal, guards removed her clothing, groped her and forced her to kneel. One inserted fingers into her vagina and then her anus.

She described two, later three, female soldiers directing her to undress, touching her despite her protests that they were causing pain. They restrained her hands, pushed her down, silenced her screams by covering her mouth and left the curtain open, allowing male soldiers to watch and laugh.

She suspects the assault may have been recorded given the prevalence of security and body cameras in such facilities, where footage of detainee abuse has previously surfaced publicly.

The group was deported to Jordan on 12 October. Liedtke had maintained a hunger strike throughout but noted a stronger craving for a cigarette than for food.

At an Amman hotel, doctors and psychologists met the activists. Liedtke began her path toward public disclosure by informing a journalist friend to note that at least one woman had suffered sexual assault.

Back in Germany she addressed the rape at a December conference on political prisoners. Speaking out brought unexpected relief, easing an internal tension. Other women from her vessel contacted her about similar experiences, and supportive messages outnumbered hostile online reactions questioning the definition of rape.

She continues to manage trauma from the event, experiencing both days of relative calm and periods when recovery feels distant, which she views as typical. She draws strength from the original political purpose of the flotilla and the symbolic arrival of an empty boat on Gaza shores, affirming that the effort justified the hardships by offering hope for future voyages.

An Israeli military spokesperson rejected claims of abuse by forces that intercepted the flotilla and referred inquiries to the Israel Prison Service. An IPS spokesperson categorically denied the described allegations as unsubstantiated and rejected any suggestion of rape, sexual assault or systematic abuse by its staff.