India, May 21 -- "A place of terror" - that is how an activist detained by Israeli soldiers after the interception of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla earlier this month described his time in Israeli custody, as accounts from released detainees sparked international outrage over their treatment.

"Welcome to Israel. This is what they said. They beat us up and said 'welcome to Israel'," said Alessandro Mantovani, an Italian journalist who arrived back in Italy following global outrage over the treatment of the detainees in Israeli custody.

In a video posted by Al Jazeera, Mantovani described the detention facility as a "square of containers" where activists were held with little food and water.

"Basically, a square of containers where they kept...