Left-wing and Green members of the European Parliament demonstrate in support of the Gaza flotilla. AFP
The Israel-based legal advocacy group, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, or Adalah, said Thursday that all of the international activists are in transit to a civilian airport near the southern Israeli city of Eilat for deportation.
The group said one participant, Zohar Regev, who holds Israeli citizenship, was in a court hearing in the southern city of Ashkelon on charges of illegal entry into Israel and unlawful stay. Regev has taken part in previous flotillas to Gaza.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he instructed that the activists be deported “as soon as possible,” after sharply rebuking Israel’s national security minister for a provocative video showing the minister taunting detained flotilla activists who were handcuffed and kneeling.
Ben-Gvir released videos Wednesday showing him walking among some of the approximately 430 detainees. In one, activists with their hands tied behind their backs are kneeling, their heads touching the floor inside what appears to be a makeshift detention area on the deck of a ship.
Several countries, including Britain, France and Portugal, summoned Israeli envoys on Thursday over concerns about the treatment of flotilla activists and in protest of Ben-Gvir’s actions.
“The actions of Mr. Ben-Gvir toward the passengers of the Global Sumud flotilla, condemned even by his own colleagues in the Israeli government, are unacceptable,” French foreign affairs minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. Turkey, Greece, Italy and Indonesia also condemned Israel for Ben-Gvir's comments and the treatment of flotilla activists.
Turkey is sending planes to retrieve Turkish citizens and others who participated in the flotilla, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Thursday. Around 85 Turkish nationals took part in the latest flotilla, according to Turkish media.
Dozens of the activists' boats began setting sail from Spain to Gaza in April, with organizers saying they want to draw renewed attention to the conditions for nearly 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israel stopped 20 vessels from the group on April 30 near the southern Greek island of Crete and forced most of its activists to disembark there.
Israel took two high profile activists — Spanish-Swedish citizen Saif Abukeshek and Brazilian citizen Thiago Ávila — back to Israel where they were interrogated and detained for around a week before being deported.
Global Sumud flotilla organisers said activists were subjected to physical and verbal abuse by Israeli forces.
They also said communication and navigation equipment was destroyed, describing the operation as a “calculated death trap at sea.”
According to testimonies from activists, several detainees were punched, kicked, and dragged while restrained, while others reported that Israeli forces used both live and rubber ammunition during the raid. Some activists said they were held for up to 40 hours without food or water.
Brazil and Spain condemned Israel for “kidnapping” their citizens.
Participants then regrouped and more than 50 boats departed from the Turkish port of Marmaris on May 14. Israeli forces began stopping the boats around 268 kilometers (167 miles) from the Gaza coastline, off the coast of Cyprus, according to the flotilla’s website.
This week, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against several European activists aboard the flotilla.
Last year, Israeli authorities blocked a similar attempt involving about 50 vessels and some 500 activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela and several European lawmakers.
Israel arrested, kidnapped and later deported the participants, who said Israeli authorities abused them.
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