Australian father-of-two Hamish Paterson's mind was close to home when he saw footage of children in war-torn Gaza.

"He could not bear seeing the children starving, bombed and injured," his mother Judy Paterson told reporters on Tuesday.

"He said to me, if that was happening to his two daughters, he would hope the rest of the world would come to their assistance."

Mr Paterson is one of seven Australians detained in an Israeli jail after being arrested on Thursday while trying to break a naval blockade in the Mediterranean Sea imposed by Israel on Gaza.

The Maritime Union of Australia, of which he is a member of, has called for his immediate release along with some 150 others.

Several activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, said they were physically abused during their

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