Some 137 activists detained by Israel for taking part in a flotilla seeking to deliver aid to Gaza arrived in Istanbul on Saturday after being deported, according to Reuters reporters at the airport.
The individuals included 36 Turkish nationals, as well as citizens from the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Switzerland, Tunisia and Jordan, ministry sources added.
The Turkish Airlines flight landed at Istanbul Airport.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said 26 Italians were on board, with another 15 still held in Israel and set to be expelled over the next few days – along with activists from other nations.
Israel has faced international condemnation after its military intercepted all of about 40 boats in a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza and detained more than 450 activists.
“I have once again given instructions to the Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv to ensure that the remaining compatriots are treated with respect for their rights”, Tajani wrote on X.
A first group of Italians from the flotilla – four parliamentarians – arrived in Rome on Friday.
“Those who were acting legally were the people aboard those boats; those who acted illegally were those who prevented them from reaching Gaza”, Arturo Scotto, one of the Italian lawmakers who took part in the mission, told a press conference in Rome.
“We were brutally stopped … brutally taken hostage”, said Benedetta Scuderi, another Italian parliamentarian.
According to Adalah, an Israeli group offering legal assistance to flotilla members, some of them were denied access to lawyers, and denied access to water and medications, as well as the use of toilets.
Activists were also “forced to kneel with their hands zip-tied for at least five hours, after some participants chanted ‘Free Palestine,'” Adalah said.
Two of the activists, Hazwani Helmi, a Malaysian citizen, and Windfield Beaver, an American citizen, told Reuters at the airport that they had witnessed Thunberg being mistreated, saying she was shoved and forced to wear an Israeli flag.
“It was a disaster. They treated us like animals,” said Helmi, 28, adding that detainees were not provided with clean food or water and that medication and belongings were confiscated.
Beaver, 43, said Thunberg was “treated terribly” and “used as propaganda”, describing how she was pushed into a room as Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived.
Israel denied the allegations. “All of Adalah’s claims are complete lies. Of course, all detainees … were given access to water, food, and restrooms; they were not denied access to legal counsel, and all their legal rights were fully upheld,” a foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters.
The flotilla, which set sail in late August, marked the latest attempt by activists to challenge the Israeli naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, where Israel has been waging a war since Palestinian militant group Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel in October 2023.
Israeli officials repeatedly denounced the mission as a stunt and warned it against violating a “lawful naval blockade”.
Despite US President Donald Trump’s call for Israel to cease its attacks on Gaza, at least 66 people have been killed since dawn due to Israeli shelling and fire, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
Among the dead, 35 were killed in Gaza City, they said.