The Albany Gazette - Gaza flotilla activists await deportation from Israel

More than 430 activists from countries around the world were in custody in Israel after they were detained at sea 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 condemnation on Wednesday by posting a video showing the detained activists with their hands tied and foreheads on the ground.

Captioned "Welcome to Israel", the footage showed Ben Gvir heckling and waving an Israeli flag among the detained activists.

On Thursday, the legal centre representing the activists said the flotilla members were "en route for deportation" from Ramon Airport in Israel's far south.

"The majority of the participants are being transferred to Ramon Airport to be flown out of the country," Adalah said in a statement, adding that the activists had been held at Israel's Ktziot prison, in the Negev Desert near Gaza.

Around 50 vessels under the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail from Turkey last week in the latest attempt by activists to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza, after Israeli forces intercepted a previous convoy last month.

- 'They kicked us' -

Adalah said one of the flotilla participants who holds Israeli citizenship had a court hearing Thursday, and faced "absurd" charges.

"Israeli authorities are holding her under unfounded and contradictory accusations of 'illegal entry into Israel', 'unlawful stay', and for an attempt to break the blockade on Gaza," Adalah said.

Adalah's legal director Suhad Bishara told AFP Wednesday 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 upon landing in Rome's Fiumicino airport Thursday 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.

Dario Carotenuto, an Italian MP who was also detained and deported said: "It was really tough... They called us by number... with rifles pointed at us... I think those were the longest seconds in my life."

The video posted by Ben Gvir sparked resounding condemnation by governments around the world, from Italy to Spain and Australia to Canada.

He was also criticised at home by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, as well as by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who denounced what he called "despicable actions".

Francesca Albanese, an outspoken UN expert on the Palestinian territories, called on Italy, where she is from, to take action.

"Words do not suffice: let Italy stop opposing the suspension" of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, she wrote on X.

- Fragile truce -

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

Since the Israel-Hamas war began with the Palestinian militant group's attack on October 7, 2023, the vast majority of Gaza's population has become aid-dependent and forcibly displaced at least one.

While a fragile ceasefire took hold in the territory last year, Gaza still suffers severe shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies, with Israel at times halting aid deliveries entirely.

A previous flotilla attempt was intercepted last month in international waters off Greece, with most activists expelled to Europe.

Two were brought to Israel, detained for several days and then deported.

(K.Lee--TAG)