Israel deports 137 activists from Global Sumud Flotilla, 321 remain kidnapped

On Saturday 4 October, the Israeli occupation authorities deported 137 of the kidnapped international solidarity activists who participated in the Global Sumud Flotilla to break the humanitarian siege on Gaza, in the second deportation operation in a matter of days, after returning four Italians to their country on Friday 3 October.

Flotilla kidnappees released – or some of them have

According to press sources, a plane carrying the deportees landed in Istanbul on Saturday afternoon with nine British nationals, while four other British citizens remain in detention by the Israeli authorities.

The list of deportees included 36 Turks, 23 Malaysians, 26 Italians, 6 Algerians, 10 Tunisians, 7 Libyans, 4 Moroccans, 2 Kuwaitis, 2 Jordanians, 9 Swiss, as well as one person each from Mauritania, the United States and Bahrain.

According to press sources, 321 people remain in Israeli detention centres, including dozens of Arab, Asian and European nationals.

Adalah, the legal centre that monitors the cases of detainees, said that detention conditions at Ketziot prison in the Negev desert are ‘deteriorating alarmingly,’ amid reports of ill-treatment and violence against some detainees.

A spokesperson for the organisation said that it is difficult at this stage to provide a comprehensive assessment, but confirmed that the mistreatment primarily affects non-European detainees, especially those whose countries do not have diplomatic missions in Israel.

This incident is the latest chapter in the confrontation between Israel and the international solidarity flotillas that recently set sail in an attempt to break the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip for more than 18 years, amid growing international warnings about targeting solidarity activists and civil society activists, and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Strip, which is suffering from famine and shortages of medicine and fuel.

Israel intercepted 40 ships in the Global Solidarity Flotilla that set sail to reach Gaza to break the blockade and deliver humanitarian aid amid the ongoing war of extermination on Gaza, which is now entering its third year.

Featured image via the Canary