Italy probes Israel minister Katz over Gaza flotilla treatment

Rome prosecutors said on Friday that Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has been placed under investigation in Italy over the treatment of Gaza flotilla activists.

Twelve senior Israeli military, police and prison officials were also named as suspects, including military chief Eyal Zamir. The decision expands a probe that previously focused on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The case concerns suspected torture, kidnapping, personal injury, robbery and damage when Israeli forces intercepted small fleets of boats heading towards Gaza in 2025 and 2026.

Complaints from Italian citizens

Investigators opened the probe after complaints from 50 Italian citizens who were detained by Israeli authorities after those missions. The missions were the Global Sumud Flotilla efforts from September to October 2025 and from April to May 2026.

Prosecutors said they identified people in the military and police chains of command for the operations. That step moved the case beyond the officers who carried out the interceptions and toward the officials who oversaw them.

The naming of Katz and Zamir marks a wider scope for the Italian case. Katz leads the defence ministry. Zamir leads the military. Both roles sit at the top of the command structure linked to the flotilla operations in the prosecutors account.

Allegations from two missions

Prosecutors said activists detained after the first mission reported beatings, injuries, death threats, insults and accusations of terrorism. Those accounts form part of the complaints that Italian investigators are examining.

Activists from the second mission reported harsher treatment, prosecutors said. Their allegations included beatings in the dark and the use of tasers and rubber bullets. All of these claims are allegations reported by prosecutors, and investigators are seeking to reconstruct what happened during and after the interceptions.

The suspected offences listed by prosecutors cover physical harm and the seizure of people and property. They include torture, kidnapping, personal injury, robbery and damage.

Request sent to Israel

Prosecutors sent Israel a request for judicial assistance in June, seeking information to reconstruct events and establish individual responsibility. They did not say whether Israel responded to that request.

Katz and Zamir did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.

Ben-Gvir responded differently when his own role became public earlier. In June, he dismissed the news that he was under investigation and said he would keep standing alongside Israeli fighters.

Why it matters

The case tests how far a European court system can go in examining the actions of senior foreign officials after citizens return home with complaints of abuse in detention. Italy is acting on complaints from its own citizens, and its prosecutors have now named officials at the highest levels of Israels defence and military leadership.

What happens next depends in part on cooperation between the two countries. The June request for judicial assistance is central to that question, because Italian investigators need records and testimony to build a full account of the two flotilla missions and the detention that followed.

For now, the probe remains an investigation, with suspects named and allegations set out by prosecutors, but with no findings announced on Friday about individual responsibility.