Israeli authorities have freed hundreds of international protesters who tried to break through the country’s naval blockade around Gaza and are now sending them out of the country, a legal advocacy organization reports.
Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, announced Thursday that the majority of the international protesters are being transported to a civilian airport close to the southern Israeli city of Eilat for removal from the country.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday that he had ordered the protesters to be removed from Israel “as soon as possible,” following his harsh criticism of Israel’s national security minister for releasing a controversial video that showed the minister mocking handcuffed and kneeling flotilla participants.
Netanyahu stated that while Israel has full authority to intercept “provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s treatment of the protesters was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”
Ben-Gvir published videos Wednesday depicting him moving among some of the roughly 430 detained individuals. One video showed protesters with bound hands in a kneeling position, their heads pressed to the floor in what looked like a temporary holding area on a ship’s deck.
The flotilla, consisting of more than 50 vessels, left for Gaza last week from Turkey, close to Cyprus. Organizers stated their goal was to bring fresh focus to the living conditions of nearly 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials have characterized the flotilla as “a PR stunt at the service of Hamas” without genuine intentions to provide assistance to Gaza. The vessels transported only a small, symbolic quantity of aid.
Israeli military forces started intercepting the vessels approximately 268 kilometers (167 miles) off the Gaza coast, the flotilla’s website reported. Israel had previously halted 20 flotilla boats on April 30 near Crete.
This week, the U.S. Treasury placed sanctions on multiple European protesters aboard the flotilla, which U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent labeled “pro-terror.”
Israel has enforced a maritime blockade around Gaza since Hamas assumed control of the region in 2007. Israeli officials tightened these restrictions following the Hamas-led militant attacks on southern Israel that resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and over 250 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023.
Opponents argue the blockade constitutes collective punishment. Israel maintains it’s designed to stop Hamas from obtaining weapons. Egypt, which controls the sole border crossing with Gaza not under Israeli authority, has also severely limited movement into and out of the territory.
Israel’s counter-offensive launched after the Oct. 7 attacks that triggered the war has resulted in more than 72,700 deaths, Gaza’s Health Ministry reports. The ministry, operating under Gaza’s Hamas-controlled government, does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties. It employs medical professionals who keep and publish comprehensive records considered generally credible by the international community.
