Turkey on Thursday said it was sending charter flights to Israel to repatriate Gaza flotilla activists, after Israeli forces detained them in scenes that sparked international condemnation.
“We plan to bring our citizens and participants from third countries to Turkey via special charter flights we will organise today,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in a statement.
Around 50 vessels set sail from Turkey on May 14 seeking to break Israel’s blockade of the besieged Palestinian territory and were joined at sea by a handful of others.
Israeli forces began intercepting them off Cyprus on Tuesday, with Israeli officials and the flotilla organisers saying some 430 activists were detained.
They were taken to Ashdod port, where footage posted by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir showed them being forced to kneel, their hands tied behind their backs, foreheads on the ground.
The images sparked a wave of global shock and disgust, with Ankara saying it “openly demonstrated to the world the violent and barbaric mentality” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Fidan did not say how many activists would be flown to Turkey, but Turkish media reported that 78 Turkish nationals were among the detainees.
The foreign minister said Turkey was working “to ensure the safety of our citizens who have been detained following the unlawful intervention against the Global Sumud Fleet, and to facilitate their safe return to Turkey”.
The Hamas-run Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007, with all entry points controlled by Israel.
This latest flotilla was the third bid in a year aimed at breaking the blockade on Gaza, which has suffered severe shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023.
