Published: 06:00 AM, 22 May 2026 Last Update: 06:36 AM, 22 May 2026
Israel deports Gaza-bound flotilla activists
Israeli soldiers are seen on a vessel bearing symbols of the Global Sumud Flotilla, as it is brought into the port in Ashdod, southern Israel, May 19, 2026. -Reuters
Israel has said it has deported all the foreign activists it seized from a Gaza-bound flotilla, after a global outcry over their treatment in custody that led the UK to join other countries in summoning Israeli diplomats for a formal dressing down.
More than 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. Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, sparked widespread condemnation and diplomatic backlash on Wednesday by posting a video showing the detained activists with their hands tied and foreheads on the ground as he taunted them, the Guardian reports.
The UK has summoned Israel's chargé d'affaires, and Italy's foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said on Thursday he had askedthe EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, to discuss sanctions on Ben-Gvir, "for the unacceptable acts committed against the flotilla, seizing the activists in international waters and subjecting them to harassment and humiliation, in violation of the most basic human rights".
Alessandro Mantovani, an Italian journalist detained with the flotilla activists and deported before the others, told reporters at Rome's Fiumicino airport on 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.
Another Italian activist, Dario Carotenuto, a lawmaker from the Five Star Movement, said he had been punched in the eye and kicked while detained.
Miriam Azem, from the Israeli rights group Adalah, said: "One of the activists was forced to strip naked and run while guards were laughing." She added that Israeli authorities had fired rubber bullets that hurt some activists as they intercepted the flotilla.
The Israel Prison Service dismissed Adalah's allegations as false and designed to portray systematic unlawful conduct.
Poland's foreign ministry said it was calling for a ban on Ben-Gvir entering the country over the video showing the far-right minister taunting detained flotilla activists who were handcuffed and kneeling.
Britain's Foreign Office issued a statement denouncing the treatment of the arrested activists.
"This behaviour 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. We made clear their obligations to protect the rights of all those involved," it said.
Human rights groups have documented widespread, systemic torture and abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons and detention centres during Israel's war in Gaza, prompted by the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023.
But the humiliating treatment of the Gaza flotilla activists has drawn unusually strong international condemnation of Israel, reflecting growing frustration with the country's policies in Gaza, Lebanon and in its joint war with the US against Iran.
