Israel said on Thursday (May 21, 2026) it had deported all the foreign activists seized by Israeli forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla, following global outcry over their treatment in custody.

Around 430 activists from countries around the world had been placed in detention in Israel after they were intercepted at sea on Monday (May 18, 2026) while making the latest in a string of attempts to break the blockade of the Palestinian territory.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked widespread condemnation and diplomatic backlash on Wednesday (May 20, 2026) by posting a video showing the detained activists with their hands tied and foreheads on the ground.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Oren Marmorstein, said on Thursday (May 21, 2026) “Israel will not permit any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza,” he added.

The legal centre representing the flotilla members said earlier on Thursday (May 21, 2026) that the majority were “en route for deportation” from Ramon Airport in Israel’s far south.

Adalah said that the activists had been held at Israel’s Ktziot prison, in the Negev Desert near Gaza.

Türkiye had announced it was sending charter flights to Israel to repatriate Turkish citizens and participants from third countries.

Turkish Foreign Ministry sources later confirmed that “a total of 422 flotilla participants, 85 of whom are our citizens, are being brought to our country on special charter flights.”

A spokesman for Adalah said activists from Egypt had been transferred to Taba at Egypt’s border with Israel, while those from Jordan had been transferred to Aqaba.

‘They kicked us’

Adalah’s legal director Suhad Bishara told AFP on Wednesday (May 20, 2026) that the group’s lawyers had been able to give legal counsel to “many” of the hundreds of activists, though she added that others had faced court hearings without legal assistance.

“We know of at least two participants who were hospitalised… both of them were shot by rubber bullets,” Bishara said, adding that others said they feared they had broken ribs.

Alessandro Mantovani, an Italian journalist detained with the flotilla activists and deported before the others, told reporters at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on Thursday (May 21, 2026) that he and others had been “taken to Ben Gurion airport in handcuffs and with chains on our feet and put on a flight to Athens”.

“They beat us up. They kicked us and punched us and shouted ‘Welcome to Israel’,” he said of his treatment by Israeli security forces.

Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, under blockade since 2007.

An Israeli court on Sunday (May 3, 2026) extended for two days the detention of two foreign activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla, who were brought to Israel for questioning, a rights group representing them said.

The flotilla of more than 50 vessels had set sail from France, Spain and Italy to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and bring supplies to the devastated Palestinian territory.

Activists aboard Gaza-bound aid flotilla say the Israeli navy has begun intercepting their vessels. Naval ships had approached the flotilla and ordered them to turn off their engines, they said on social media.

Activists said earlier that they were prepared for the Israeli navy to intervene as they approached the besieged Palestinian territory on Wednesday (October 1, 2025), after a tense night in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, with Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela, and several European lawmakers aboard, consists of nearly 50 boats and 500 activists and is carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid. It has remained undeterred in its mission to break the Israeli blockade of the coastal strip and reach Palestinians.

“Every minute we advance a little more,” Thiago Ávila, one of the flotilla leaders and spokespeople, told reporters on Wednesday (October 1, 2025) in an online news conference from aboard the Alma, one of the flotilla’s motherships.

The vessels were sailing in international waters north of Egypt on Wednesday (October 1, 2025) afternoon and had entered what activists call a “danger zone,” which Israeli authorities had warned them not to cross and where the Israeli navy had stopped attempts by other flotillas in the past.

Overnight, the activists said two Israeli warships aggressively approached two of their boats, circling them and jamming their communications, including the live cameras on board.

“It was an intimidation act. They wanted us to see them,” said Lisi Proença, another activist who was on board the Sirius, a vessel that was targeted alongside the Alma.

After the close encounter overnight, the military vessels eventually left and the flotilla continued on its journey, broadcasting live cameras from many of its boats.

By Wednesday afternoon, the atmosphere appeared to be more relaxed on board the decks of some of the sailboats that broadcast their journeys live. Some activists held up messages of solidarity with people in Gaza and chanted “Free Palestine!” on camera. Music could be heard playing in the background.

If undisturbed, the flotilla, which began its journey from the Spanish port of Barcelona a month ago, was to reach the shores of Gaza by Thursday (October 2, 2025) morning, the group said. However, activists said that was unlikely and that they were expecting Israeli authorities to try to stop them at any moment, as they have done in past attempts.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the flotilla a provocation and warned them to stop and transfer their aid through other channels into Gaza. “It is not too late,” he posted on X.

Israel’s government has accused some of the flotilla members of being linked to Hamas. Activists have strongly rejected the accusations and said Israel was trying to justify potential attacks on them.

European governments, including Spain and Italy, which had sent their navy ships to escort the flotilla during part of its journey, urged the activists to turn back and avoid confrontation. But while Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni said late on Tuesday the flotilla’s actions risked undermining U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent proposal for resolving the war in Gaza, Spain’s prime minister defended them.

“We must remember it is a humanitarian mission that wouldn’t be taking place if the Israeli government had allowed for the entry of aid,” Pedro Sánchez told reporters on Wednesday. Spaniards taking part would benefit from full diplomatic protection, he added.

“They present no threat nor danger to Israel,” he said.