{"id":453558,"date":"2026-05-21T22:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/453558\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T22:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:07:11","slug":"israel-deports-hundreds-of-gaza-flotilla-activists-after-international-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/453558\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel deports hundreds of Gaza flotilla activists after international backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) \u2014 The Israeli government on Thursday released and deported hundreds of flotilla activists who attempted to breach Israel\u2019s naval blockade of Gaza<\/a>. Outrage abroad over the activists\u2019 treatment prompted several countries to summon Israeli envoys to hear their concerns. <\/p>\n

About 420 activists departed Israel on planes bound for Turkey, where they landed Thursday evening in Istanbul. Wearing grey sweatsuits and Arab keffiyehs, they descended stairs to the runway flashing two-fingered salutes and chanting \u201cFree Palestine.\u201d Some appeared to be limping.<\/p>\n

All of the activists were expected to be taken for a medical checkup, Turkey\u2019s state-run Anadolu news agency reported. <\/p>\n

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that \u201call foreign activists\u201d from the flotilla had been deported. <\/p>\n

The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, or Adalah, said one participant who holds Israeli citizenship, Zohar Regev, was released following a court hearing on charges of illegal entry into Israel and unlawful stay. Regev has taken part in previous flotillas to Gaza.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu calls for quick deportation after rebuking security minister<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he instructed that the activists be deported \u201cas soon as possible,\u201d after sharply rebuking Israel\u2019s national security minister <\/a> for provocative videos showing the minister taunting detained flotilla activists who were handcuffed and kneeling.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu said that although Israel has every right to stop \u201cprovocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,\u201d the way National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir<\/a> dealt with the activists was \u201cnot in line with Israel\u2019s values and norms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben-Gvir released videos Wednesday showing him walking among some of the 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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2019s actions. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d French foreign affairs minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. Turkey, Greece, Italy and Indonesia also condemned Israel for Ben-Gvir\u2019s comments and the treatment of flotilla activists. <\/p>\n

Italian detainees describe abuses by Israeli forces <\/p>\n

Two Italian citizens who had been detained by Israel returned home Thursday, saying they had been beaten and mistreated \u2014 allegations that were denied by Israeli prison officials<\/p>\n

Dario Carotenuto, an Italian lawmaker, said he experienced the \u201clongest seconds\u201d of his life when Israeli forces pointed rifles at activists inside a detention facility. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey kicked me in the legs and punched me in the face,\u201d said Alessandro Mantovani, an Italian newspaper journalist.<\/p>\n

The allegations were \u201cfalse and entirely without factual basis,\u201d said Zivan Freidin, a spokesperson for the Israeli Prison Service.<\/p>\n

Dozens of the activists\u2019 boats began setting sail from Spain to Gaza in April. Israel stopped 20<\/a> vessels from the group on April 30 near the southern Greek island of Crete and forced most of its activists to disembark. <\/p>\n

Israel took two high profile activists<\/a> \u2014 Spanish-Swedish citizen Saif Abukeshek and Brazilian citizen Thiago \u00c1vila \u2014 back to Israel where they were interrogated and detained for around a week before being deported<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The activists accused Israel of torture, claims Israel denies. Brazil and Spain condemned Israel for \u201ckidnapping\u201d their citizens.<\/p>\n

Participants then regrouped and more than 50 boats departed from the Turkish port of Marmaris<\/a> on May 14. Israeli forces began stopping the boats<\/a> about 268 kilometers (167 miles) from the Gaza coastline, according to the flotilla\u2019s website. <\/p>\n

Israel has repeatedly blocked similar attempts<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry has called the flotilla \u201ca PR stunt at the service of Hamas.\u201d The boats carry a tiny, symbolic amount of aid.<\/p>\n

This week, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against several European activists aboard the flotilla, which U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called \u201cpro-terror.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, Israeli authorities blocked a similar attempt involving some 500 activists.<\/p>\n

Israel arrested, detained and later deported the participants, who claimed Israeli authorities abused them<\/a>. Israeli authorities denied the accusations.<\/p>\n

Blockade of Gaza in place since 2007<\/p>\n

Israel has maintained a sea blockade of Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007. Israeli authorities intensified it after the Hamas-led militant attacks on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023.<\/p>\n

Critics say the blockade amounts to collective punishment. Israel says it\u2019s intended to prevent Hamas from arming itself.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s retaliatory offensive following the Oct. 7 attacks that started the war has killed more than 72,700 people, according to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of Gaza\u2019s Hamas-run government, doesn\u2019t give a breakdown between civilians and combatants. It is staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community. ___ AP journalists Andrew Wilks in Istanbul; Silvia Stellacci in Rome; Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) \u2014 The Israeli government on Thursday released and deported hundreds of flotilla activists who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[120,159991,2037,211715,49,38306,211713,69,122,51,85,8697,46,1984,61,837,147122,2034,3896,9552,43,238,211714,2635,211712,1582,126],"class_list":["post-453558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","tag-activism","tag-alessandro-mantovani","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-blockades","tag-dario-carotenuto","tag-gaza-strip","tag-general-news","tag-hamas","tag-il","tag-immigration","tag-israel","tag-israel-government","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-itamar-ben-gvir","tag-jean-noel-barrot","tag-mideast-wars","tag-military-and-defense","tag-national-security","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-saif-abukeshek","tag-scott-bessent","tag-thiago-vila","tag-turkey","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}