Web desk(National Times)- Israel said on Thursday it had deported all the foreign activists seized by Israeli forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla, following global outcry over their treatment in custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel\u2019s foreign ministry spokesman, Oren Marmorstein, said that \u201call foreign activists from the PR flotilla have been deported from Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIsrael will not permit any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier, the legal centre and rights groups representing the activists, Adalah, said all detained activists from the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla and Freedom Flotilla Coalition had been released from Israel\u2019s Ktziot prison ahead of deportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saad Edhi<\/u><\/a>, son of prominent social worker Faisal Edhi and grandson of late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, was reportedly also among the detained activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adalah said it had received \u201cofficial confirmation\u201d from the Israeli Prison Service and state officials that the detainees had been released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe majority of the participants are being transferred to Ramon Airport to be flown out of the country,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the organisers of the Freedom Flotilla mission, Thiago Avila, in a post on X, said, \u201cZohar, one of our participants of the last flotilla mission, is free,\u201d adding that the \u201cothers\u201d were expected to arrive in Istanbul by 18pm [sic<\/em>]\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe world mobilisation is working! Keep talking about Gaza and showing solidarity with Palestine,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than 430 activists from countries around the world were taken 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Captioned \u201cWelcome to Israel\u201d, the footage showed Ben Gvir heckling and waving an Israeli flag among the detained activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday, Adalah said the flotilla members were \u201cen route for deportation\u201d from Ramon Airport in Israel\u2019s far south after their release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe majority of the participants are being transferred to Ramon Airport to be flown out of the country,\u201d Adalah said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around 50 vessels under the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail from Turkey last week in the latest attempt by activists to breach Israel\u2019s blockade of Gaza, after Israeli forces intercepted a previous convoy last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adalah said one of the flotilla participants who holds Israeli citizenship had a court hearing Thursday, and faced \u201cabsurd\u201d charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIsraeli authorities are holding her under unfounded and contradictory accusations of \u2018illegal entry into Israel\u2019, \u2018unlawful stay\u2019, and for an attempt to break the blockade on Gaza,\u201d Adalah said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adalah\u2019s legal director, Suhad Bishara, told AFP<\/em> on Wednesday that the group\u2019s lawyers had been able to give legal counsel to \u201cmany\u201d of the hundreds of activists, though she added that others had faced court hearings without legal assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe know of at least two participants who were hospitalised\u2026 both of them were shot by rubber bullets,\u201d Bishara said, adding that others said they feared they had broken ribs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alessandro Mantovani, an Italian journalist detained with the flotilla activists and deported before the others, told reporters upon landing in Rome\u2019s Fiumicino airport on Thursday that he and others had been \u201ctaken to Ben Gurion airport in handcuffs and with chains on our feet and put on a flight to Athens\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey beat us up. They kicked us and punched us and shouted \u2018Welcome to Israel\u2019,\u201d he said of his treatment by Israeli security forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dario Carotenuto, an Italian MP who was also detained and deported, said: \u201cIt was really tough\u2026 They called us by number\u2026 with rifles pointed at us\u2026 I think those were the longest seconds in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A statement by the Foreign Office (FO) in Islamabad earlier in the day said that those detained also reportedly included humanitarian activist Saad Edhi<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The FO also condemned<\/a> Israel\u2019s unlawful interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters as well as the arbitrary detention and reported mistreatment of humanitarian workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The video posted by Ben Gvir sparked resounding condemnation by other governments as well, including those of Italy, Spain, Australia and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 \u201cdespicable actions\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Francesca Albanese, an outspoken UN expert on the Palestinian territories, called on Italy, where she is from, to take action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWords do not suffice: let Italy stop opposing the suspension\u201d of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, she wrote on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier this week, Pakistan and nine other countries issued<\/u><\/a> a joint statement condemning Israel\u2019s interception of the flotilla. The joint statement was issued by the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkiye, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Jordan, Libya, Maldives, and Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, under blockade since 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the Gaza conflict, sparked by Hamas\u2019s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the territory has suffered severe shortages of food<\/u><\/a>, medicine and other essential supplies, with Israel at times halting aid deliveries entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A previous flotilla<\/u><\/a> attempt was intercepted last month in international waters off Greece, with most activists expelled to Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, Israel\u2019s military had halted a flotilla assembled by the same organisation in October last year as well. Israel had also arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg<\/u><\/a> and more than 450 participants back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both times, former Pakistani senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan was also among the flotilla participants who had been detained by the Israeli military and later released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly before the activists\u2019 release on Thursday, he shared a letter from his party, the Pakistani Rights Movement, to President Asif Ali Zardari, calling for measures to secure Saad Edhi\u2019s release. In his post, he said that the letter was also addressed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The letter stated: \u201cI am writing to you with a sense of profound urgency and grave concern regarding the unlawful abduction and detention of Mr Saad Edhi by Israeli forces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It added that the Edhi family represented the \u201cvery identity, soul, and moral compass of Pakistan. Their decades of unparalleled, selfless service to humanity are not normal accomplishments. They are monumental, historic, and recognised globally\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saad Edhi was leading a humanitarian flotilla to deliver life-saving aid to the besieged people of Gaza when his vessel was intercepted, and he was \u201cillegally kidnapped\u201d by Israeli forces, the letter said, adding that he was \u201ccurrently being held in an Israeli prison in occupied Palestine\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senator Khan urged for the initiation of \u201cimmediate, emergency diplomatic channels\u201d through the United Nations, friendly states, and international humanitarian organisations to secure the safe and unconditional release of Saad Edhi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, \u201cthe government of Pakistan must regularly update the Edhi family and the citizens of Pakistan regarding the specific, concrete steps being taken for his recovery. The nation deserves to know that its government stands firmly behind its heroes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also called for formally raising this issue at all international forums to condemn this \u201cillegal detention of a humanitarian worker\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI look forward to your prompt action on this matter of national dignity,\u201d he stated, concluding the letter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Web desk(National Times)- Israel said on Thursday it had deported all the foreign activists seized by Israeli forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla, following global outcry over their treatment in custody. Israel\u2019s foreign ministry spokesman, Oren Marmorstein, said that \u201call foreign activists from the PR flotilla have been deported from Israel\u201d. \u201cIsrael will not permit any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>\u2018They kicked us\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Former senator Mushtaq\u2019s letter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n