Bohemia activist Eric Lein freed from Israeli prison following Gaza flotilla mission, mother says

A Bohemia man has been freed from an Israeli prison, days after he and other activists were captured aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla heading to deliver food and medicine to the famine-stricken territory, according to his mother.

It was around 4 a.m. New York time Tuesday when the phone rang, and Eric Lein's mother, 73-year-old Helen Lein, also of Bohemia, finally spoke to her son, 39. The conversation came after days of silence, uncertainty and worry.

"I was up most of the night waiting to hear," she said.

He’s now at a hotel in Amman, Jordan, and is expected to be flown to Kennedy Airport, she said, scheduled to land Wednesday around 10:30 p.m.

"He said he was doing OK," she said. He had only a few moments to speak; the 19 activists had to share one phone and pass it among themselves, she said.

Eric Lein, who grew up in Hicksville, was among hundreds of activists — including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Nelson Mandela’s grandson — who were captured last week on the Global Sumud Flotilla, in international waters, headed to Gaza.

The United Nations has said Gaza is facing "famine and widespread starvation" that is "driving a rise in hunger-related deaths." The activists set out on the mission to deliver food and other critically needed aid to Gaza and to spotlight the conditions there, the result of the two-year war that has left the territory in ruins from Israeli bombardment.

The activists have alleged abuse while in custody, a claim the Israeli government denies. But Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who runs the prisons, said "I was proud that we treat the 'flotilla activists' as supporters of terrorism. Anyone who supports terrorism is a terrorist and deserves the conditions of terrorists," according to The Jerusalem Post.

Following Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, then-Israel defense minister Yoav Gallant ordered a "complete siege" of Gaza, including food.

Israel, which controls Gaza’s borders, has allowed varying amounts of food to enter during the war, but cut off the flow of food and other aid entirely for several months earlier in 2025.

Then, after replacing a U.N. aid program with one backed by U.S. contractors, nearly 1,400 Palestinians seeking food have been killed, most by the Israeli military, according to a U.N. report from August.

In the Oct. 7 attacks, Hamas and other groups killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, including at least 38 children, according to the Israeli government; the attackers abducted hundreds and injured thousands. An estimated 20 captives are still believed to be alive.

Since the attacks, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel's air and ground campaign has exceeded 67,000, with about half women and children, as of last month, according to Gaza's health ministry, which doesn't differentiate between civilians and militants. In addition, nearly 170,000 more have been injured, the ministry says. Israel's bombardment has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displacing about 90% of the population.

Of the nearly 500 people aboard the flotilla, 22 were Americans, all now freed, according to the flotilla organizers' website. Lein's flight is Qatar Airways 705.

The U.S. State Department didn't return emails Tuesday seeking comment.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.