Israel begins deporting Gaza flotilla activists amid international outrage

Israel has started deporting hundreds of activists who were seized by Israeli forces during the storming of a Gaza aid flotilla earlier this week, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adalah) said.

Adalah told Al Jazeera on Thursday that most of the approximately 430 detained activists were being moved to Ramon Airport in southern Israel for deportation, with the remainder to be expelled from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

Israeli forces completed intercepting the last of more than 50 vessels from the Global Sumud Flotilla on Tuesday evening as the boats sailed toward Gaza in international waters.

The detentions drew widespread condemnation, with foreign ministers from 10 countries, including Spain, Brazil and India, denouncing the actions as “blatant violations of international law and international humanitarian law.”

Additional countries, including key allies, condemned Israel’s treatment of the activists after far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video on X on Wednesday showing him taunting activists who were kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs.

In response, France, Canada, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and other countries summoned the Israeli ambassadors to their capitals to express outrage. European Council President Antonio Costa said he was “appalled” by Ben-Gvir’s behavior, calling it “completely unacceptable.”

“It really goes to show how much Israeli authorities wanted to make a show out of [this] and how it’s very much an extension of the Israeli treatment towards Palestinians, which obviously gets a lot less of a public outcry,” Miriam Azem, international advocacy coordinator at Adalah, told Al Jazeera.

Earlier, Turkey announced it was sending chartered flights to Israel to repatriate some of its citizens and those of third countries, including Spanish nationals. Jordan confirmed that two of its nationals returned home via the southern crossing with Israel.

Reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said the deportations were the fastest Israel has ever conducted, as it scrambles to contain the public relations damage from Ben-Gvir’s video. Ibrahim added that many Palestinians believe the incident received more international attention because those mistreated were foreign nationals.

Among those detained was Israeli citizen Zohar Regev, who attended a court hearing in Ashkelon on Thursday after being accused of illegally entering Israel.

“This shows you the level of Israeli anger, the level of Israeli frustration at these continued flotillas that will disrupt Israel’s image,” Ibrahim reported.