Amid Ben Gvir furor, Israel deports all 430 foreign flotilla activists, holds one Israeli

Israel on Thursday deported all of the approximately 430 international activists who were detained at sea in the latest flotilla attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, the Foreign Ministry said, a day after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir caused widespread outrage after filming himself taunting the bound, kneeling activists.

“Israel will not permit any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza,” the Foreign Ministry said. Turkey sent charter flights to collect the detainees from the Ramon airport near Eilat.

One participant, an Israeli citizen, was still being held in custody pending a hearing at the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court, the Adalah legal rights group said, naming her as  Zohar Regev.

Adalal said the charges against Regev were “absurd,” noting that she was being held on for offenses including “‘illegal entry into Israel,’ ‘unlawful stay,’ and for an attempt to break the blockade on Gaza.”

The legal group called the accusations “unfounded and contradictory” and noted Regev was “forcefully abducted” in international waters and “brought into Israeli territory entirely against her will.”

A first group of deported foreign activists were seen inside the VIP terminal at Istanbul airport, as a crowd of supporters carrying Palestinian flags gathered to welcome them.

Upon arrival at Istanbul airport, one of the activists shouted “the Palestinian people are not alone!” as he emerged from the terminal.

“We’ve been tortured, we’ve been beaten, we’ve been arrested in international waters, but we won’t give up. We will return. Palestine will be free from the river to the sea,” he said to cheers from the crowd.

Several of the activists were seen being taken away in ambulances.

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.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he instructed that the flotilla activists be deported “as soon as possible,” after rebuking Ben Gvir for a provocative video showing the minister taunting dozens of detainees who had their hands bound and were forced to kneel.

ככה אנחנו מקבלים את תומכי הטרור

Welcome to Israel ???????? pic.twitter.com/7Hf8cAg7fC

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 20, 2026

Netanyahu said that although Israel has every right to stop “provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,” the way Ben Gvir dealt with the activists was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”

The video caused an international uproar, with 30 countries issuing sharp condemnations, including many European countries whose citizens were among those detained, and eight countries summoning Israel’s ambassadors for reprimand and explanation following the incident, including some of Jerusalem’s closest allies.

Condemnations keep coming, Poland looks to ban Ben Gvir from country

International condemnation of Israel’s treatment of the detained activists kept pouring in Thursday, with Britain summoning Israel’s chargé d’affaires, saying the behavior seen in the video “violates the most basic standards of respect and dignity for people.”

“We are also deeply concerned by the detention conditions depicted and have demanded an explanation from the Israeli authorities,” the UK’s foreign ministry said. “We made clear their obligations to protect the rights of all those involved.”

British Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mervis also issued a sharp condemnation of the incident, saying “such conduct is the antithesis of our core Jewish values.”

I have rarely seen the Jewish world so united in revulsion than in its response to this shameful display. Such conduct is the very antithesis of our core Jewish values and an awful Chillul Hashem. https://t.co/HwoGYtXwLb

— Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis (@chiefrabbi) May 21, 2026

European Council President Antonio Costa said he was “appalled” by Ben-Gvir’s treatment of aid flotilla members attempting to enter Gaza. “This behavior is completely unacceptable. We call for their immediate release,” Costa said.

The Netherlands said it will summon Israel’s ambassador over what it called the “unacceptable” treatment of the activists. Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen said the images were “shocking,” adding he had raised the matter with Israel’s foreign minister.

Going further, Italy pushed the European Union to adopt sanctions on Ben Gvir, with Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani saying Thursday that he had made a formal request to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas for the body to discuss such measures on account of the far-right minister’s “unacceptable actions” against the activists.

Also, Poland’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Thursday that Warsaw wants to ban Ben Gvir from the country over the incident, saying: “Minister Sikorski has decided to ask the Ministry of Interior and Administration to ban Minister Ben Gvir from entering the territory of the Republic of Poland due to his actions.”

“Poland firmly condemns the conduct of representatives of the Israeli authorities towards activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla detained by the Israeli army, including Polish citizens,” Radoslaw Sikorski said on X.

Earlier, the Polish minister had summoned the Israeli chargé d’affaires over the detention of Gaza flotilla activists, including Polish nationals, demanding their immediate release and an apology.

A spokesperson for the ministry later said that there were two Polish nationals detained and that they would be repatriated on Thursday night. “Today, our citizens, and not only our citizens, will leave Israel. This is very good news,” Maciej Wewior told reporters.

Turkey sends flights

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said his country was conducting special flights that would bring Turkish citizens as well as third country participants to Turkey. “We will continue to uphold the rights of our citizens and fulfil our humanitarian responsibility toward civilians in Gaza,” Fidan said.

Local media said 78 Turkish nationals were among those participating in the flotilla, and Turkish foreign ministry sources said three flights with a capacity for more than 400 passengers would depart Thursday afternoon and arrive at Istanbul airport later in the evening.

The flotilla, made up of more than 50 boats, departed for Gaza last week from Turkey, near Cyprus. Organizers said they wanted to draw renewed attention to the conditions for nearly 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has called the flotilla “a PR stunt at the service of Hamas” with no real intent to deliver aid to Gaza. The boats carry a tiny, symbolic amount of aid.

Israeli forces began stopping the boats around 268 kilometers (167 miles) from the Gaza coastline, according to the flotilla’s website. Israel also stopped 20 boats from the flotilla on April 30 near Crete.

A live feed on the Global Sumud Flotilla’s website showed IDF soldiers boarding the vessels as activists in life vests put their hands up. Soldiers then destroyed cameras mounted on the vessels.

‘They beat us up, they kicked us’

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 hospitalized… both of them were shot by rubber bullets,” Bishara said, adding that others said they feared they had broken ribs. Flotilla organizers claimed Israeli soldiers fired on five boats during the interdictions, with some damage, with Israel saying “non-lethal means were employed toward the vessels – not toward protesters – as a warning.”

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.”

Miriam Azem, Adalah’s communications director, said the group’s lawyers had documented repeated use of tasers, suspected broken ribs, as well as beatings, the use of prolonged stress positions, and sexual harassment and abuse.

“One of the activists was forced to strip naked and run while guards were laughing,” she said.

The Israel Prison Service dismissed Adalah’s allegations as false, entirely without a factual basis and designed to portray systematic unlawful conduct.

“All prisoners and detainees are held in accordance with the law, with full regard for their basic rights and under the supervision of professional and trained prison staff,” it said, with medical care provided under health ministry guidelines.