Israel has released and begun deporting hundreds of international activists who tried to breach its naval blockade of Gaza, a legal group working with the flotilla said.
The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adalah) said most of the foreign activists are being moved to a civilian airport near the southern city of Eilat for deportation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed that the activists be deported “as soon as possible.” He also criticized the conduct of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after videos surfaced showing the minister taunting detained activists who were handcuffed and kneeling.
Netanyahu said Israel has a right to stop what it calls “provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,” but added that the way the detainees were handled was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”
Ben-Gvir posted footage showing him walking among roughly 430 detainees. In one clip, activists with their hands tied behind their backs appear to be kneeling with their heads close to the deck inside a makeshift detention area on a ship.
The flotilla, made up of more than 50 boats, sailed from Turkey near Cyprus last week. Organizers say their goal is to draw attention to conditions for nearly 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities have described the mission as a publicity operation serving Hamas and said the vessels carried only a symbolic amount of aid.
Israeli forces intercepted the boats about 268 km from the Gaza coastline, according to the flotilla’s website. Israel also intercepted 20 of the flotilla’s boats on April 30 near Crete.
This week the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions against several European activists aboard the flotilla; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called them “pro-terror,” according to the report.
Israel has maintained a sea blockade of Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007, and tightened restrictions following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and left more than 250 taken hostage.
Critics of the blockade say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s population. Israel says the restrictions are meant to prevent Hamas from obtaining weapons. Egypt, which controls the only border crossing with Gaza not under Israeli control, has also greatly restricted movement in and out.
Gaza’s Health Ministry, run by the Hamas-led government, says more than 72,700 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive since the Oct. 7 attacks. The ministry does not provide a breakdown between civilians and combatants; its casualty records are widely cited by the international community.
