All 37 French nationals detained aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla to Turkey were deported by Israel on Thursday. Paris summoned a senior Israeli diplomat over a video showing the country's national security minister taunting the multinational group of activists while they were being detained.
The Israeli government on Thursday released and deported hundreds of flotilla activists who attempted to breach Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. Outrage abroad over the activists' treatment prompted several countries to summon Israeli envoys to hear their concerns.
About 420 activists departed Israel on planes bound for Turkey, where they landed Thursday evening in Istanbul following the international outcry sparked by a video showing them being humiliated and mocked while in detention.
They were met at the airport by a large support committee, with many activists waving Palestinian flags.
Wearing grey sweatsuits and Arab keffiyehs, they descended stairs to the runaway flashing two-fingered salutes and chanting “Free Palestine.” Some appeared to be limping.
Israeli authorities deported 37 French nationals who were part of the group of activists on board the Gaza-bound aid flotilla to Turkey, France's Foreign ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said on Thursday.
Confavreux said the French nationals would be repatriated as soon as possible.
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."
All of the activists were expected to be taken for a medical checkup, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Speaking to reporters earlier, Confavreux said a senior Israeli diplomat had been summoned by the ministry earlier on Thursday to express Paris's anger in response to a video released by Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in which the minister is seen taunting detained Gaza flotilla activists.
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Confavreux added that it was too early for now to talk about imposing sanctions on Ben-Gvir after an earlier call by Italy's foreign minister to do so.
Some 430 activists from countries around the world had been placed in detention in Israel after they were intercepted at sea on Monday while making the latest in a string of attempts to break the blockade of the Palestinian territory.
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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.
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 provocative videos showing the minister taunting detained flotilla activists who were handcuffed and kneeling.
Netanyahu said that although Israel has every right to stop “provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,” the way National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir dealt with the activists was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”
'Inflammatory video'
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.
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.
Two Italian citizens who had been detained by Israel returned home Thursday, saying they had been beaten and mistreated — allegations that were denied by Israeli prison officials.
Dario Carotenuto, an Italian lawmaker, said he experienced the “longest seconds” of his life when Israeli forces pointed rifles at activists inside a detention facility.
“They kicked me in the legs and punched me in the face,” said Alessandro Mantovani, an Italian newspaper journalist.
The allegations were “false and entirely without factual basis,” said Zivan Freidin, a spokesperson for the Israeli Prison Service.
Read moreArab, Muslim nations slam ‘inflammatory’ remarks by US ambassador to Israel
Italy and Spain have called on the European Union to sanction Ben Gvir, with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calling the treatment of the activists "unacceptable."
In Ireland, a leaked letter revealed Prime Minister Micheal Martin urging the EU chief for "further action" against Israel over the activists' treatment.
"At the very least, this must include the banning of products from Israeli settlements and the suspension of parts if not all of the EU's Association Agreement with Israel," the letter said.
The United Kingdom announced it had summoned Israel's most senior diplomat in Britain following "the inflammatory video".
Francesca Albanese, an outspoken UN expert on the Palestinian territories, called on Italy, where she is from, to take action.
The treatment of the flotilla activists "is a luxury compared to what is inflicted on Palestinians in Israeli prisons," Albanese wrote on X.
"Words do not suffice: let Italy stop opposing the suspension" of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, she added.
'A PR stunt'
Dozens of the activists' boats began setting sail from Spain to Gaza in April. 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.
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.
The activists accused Israel of torture, claims Israel denies. 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 about 268 kilometers (167 miles) from the Gaza coastline, according to the flotilla’s website.
Israel's Foreign Ministry has called the flotilla “a PR stunt at the service of Hamas.” The boats carry a tiny, symbolic amount of aid.
This week, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against several European activists aboard the flotilla, which U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called “pro-terror.”
Last year, Israeli authorities blocked a similar attempt involving some 500 activists.
Israel arrested, detained and later deported the participants, who claimed Israeli authorities abused them. Israeli authorities denied the accusations.
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.
Critics say the blockade amounts to collective punishment. Israel says it’s intended to prevent Hamas from arming itself.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive following the Oct. 7 attacks that started the war has killed more than 72,700 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t 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.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)
