Meta tags:
description=Israel says it has released and deported hundreds of activists who took part in a flotilla attempting to breach Israel s naval blockade of Gaza. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Thursday that all foreign activists had been deported. The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel says the ac...;
keywords=Associated Press, AP Politics, AP World news;
author=MELANIE LIDMAN — Associated Press;

Headings (most frequently used words):

israel, has, of, gaza, activists, says, it, deported, hundreds, flotilla, amid, international, backlash, netanyahu, calls, for, quick, deportation, after, rebuking, security, minister, turkey, sends, planes, to, retrieve, repeatedly, blocked, similar, attempts, blockade, in, place, since, 2007,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (55), #israel (29), and (23), #activists (20), gaza (15), flotilla (15), israeli (14), has (11), deported (9), for (8), said (8), that (7), who (7), from (7), foreign (7), minister (7), hamas (6), with (6), ministry (5), blockade (5), says (5), turkish (5), their (5), ben (5), gvir (5), 2026 (4), all (4), according (4), part (4), took (4), authorities (4), after (4), southern (4), around (4), several (4), boats (4), thursday (4), released (4), hundreds (4), associated (3), press (3), rights (3), this (3), may (3), not (3), more (3), than (3), government (3), international (3), detained (3), condemned (3), they (3), were (3), turkey (3), was (3), treatment (3), netanyahu (3), security (3), been (3), naval (3), following (2), oct (2), attacks (2), killed (2), people (2), cyprus (2), which (2), also (2), out (2), sea (2), since (2), 2007 (2), taken (2), participants (2), blocked (2), similar (2), about (2), vessels (2), some (2), including (2), swedish (2), mandela (2), european (2), week (2), treasury (2), called (2), aid (2), port (2), forces (2), began (2), spain (2), citizens (2), citizen (2), being (2), sail (2), april (2), group (2), near (2), planes (2), retrieve (2), actions (2), are (2), countries (2), envoys (2), over (2), concerns (2), wednesday (2), showing (2), one (2), kneeling (2), provocative (2), flotillas (2), national (2), rebuking (2), regev (2), city (2), into (2), wral (2), had (2), legal (2), center (2), arab (2), minority (2), breach (2), amid (2), backlash (2), copyright, reserved, material, published, broadcast, rewritten, redistributed, retaliatory, offensive, started, war, 700, health, run, doesn, give, breakdown, between, civilians, combatants, staffed, medical, professionals, maintain, publish, detailed, records, viewed, generally, reliable, community, ___, journalists, andrew, wilks, istanbul, menelaos, hadjicostis, nicosia, russ, bynum, savannah, georgia, contributed, report, critics, say, amounts, collective, punishment, intended, prevent, arming, itself, egypt, only, border, crossing, controlled, greatly, restricted, movement, maintained, control, territory, intensified, led, militant, 200, saw, 250, hostage, 2023, place, arrested, later, claimed, abused, them, denied, accusations, last, year, attempt, involving, 500, climate, campaigner, greta, thunberg, nelson, grandson, mandla, lawmakers, imposed, sanctions, against, aboard, secretary, scott, bessent, pro, terror, stunt, service, real, intent, deliver, carry, tiny, symbolic, amount, repeatedly, attempts, then, regrouped, departed, marmaris, stopping, 268, kilometers, 167, miles, coastline, off, coast, website, accused, torture, claims, denies, brazil, kidnapping, two, high, profile, spanish, saif, abukeshek, brazilian, thiago, ávila, back, where, interrogated, before, dozens, setting, organizers, saying, want, draw, renewed, attention, conditions, nearly, million, palestinians, strip, stopped, greek, island, crete, forced, most, its, disembark, there, sending, others, participated, hakan, fidan, nationals, latest, media, sends, toward, passengers, global, sumud, even, his, own, colleagues, unacceptable, french, affairs, jean, noel, barrot, greece, italy, indonesia, comments, britain, france, portugal, summoned, protest, videos, him, walking, among, approximately, 430, detainees, hands, tied, behind, backs, heads, touching, floor, inside, what, appears, makeshift, detention, area, deck, ship, although, every, right, stop, terrorist, supporters, way, itamar, dealt, line, values, norms, prime, benjamin, instructed, soon, possible, sharply, video, taunting, handcuffed, calls, quick, deportation, participant, zohar, holds, citizenship, court, hearing, ashkelon, charges, illegal, entry, unlawful, stay, previous, other, top, stories, statement, flown, civilian, airport, eilat, adalah, tel, aviv, attempted, have, outrage, abroad, prompted, summon, hear, melanie, lidman, confiscated, bound, boat, ashdod, intercepting, vessel, mediterranean, tuesday, photo, ariel, schalit, world, news, politics, related, updated, posted, attempting, com,

Text of the page (random words):
israel says it has deported hundreds of gaza flotilla activists amid international backlash wral com israel says it has deported hundreds of gaza flotilla activists amid international backlash israel says it has released and deported hundreds of activists who took part in a flotilla attempting to breach israel s naval blockade of gaza the israeli foreign ministry said thursday that all foreign activists had been deported the legal center for arab minority rights in israel says the ac posted 5 21 2026 10 53 13 am updated 5 21 2026 1 53 12 pm related associated press ap politics ap world news israeli naval forces sail a confiscated gaza bound flotilla boat into israel s ashdod port after intercepting the vessel on the mediterranean sea tuesday may 19 2026 ap photo ariel schalit by melanie lidman associated press tel aviv israel ap the israeli government said thursday that hundreds of flotilla activists who attempted to breach israel s naval blockade of gaza have all been released and deported outrage abroad over the activists treatment prompted several countries to summon israeli envoys to hear their concerns the israeli foreign ministry said in a statement that all foreign activists from the flotilla had been deported they were being flown out of israel from a civilian airport near the southern israeli city of eilat according to the legal center for arab minority rights in israel or adalah other wral top stories the group said one participant zohar regev who holds israeli citizenship was released following a court hearing in the southern city of ashkelon on charges of illegal entry into israel and unlawful stay regev has taken part in previous flotillas to gaza netanyahu calls for quick deportation after rebuking security minister prime minister benjamin netanyahu said on wednesday he instructed that the activists be deported as soon as possible after sharply rebuking israel s national security minister for a provocative video showing the minister taunting detained flotilla activists who were handcuffed and kneeling netanyahu said that although israel has every right to stop provocative flotillas of hamas terrorist supporters the way national security minister itamar ben gvir dealt with the activists was not in line with israel s values and norms ben gvir released videos wednesday showing him walking among some of the approximately 430 detainees in one activists with their hands tied behind their backs are kneeling their heads touching the floor inside what appears to be a makeshift detention area on the deck of a ship several countries including britain france and portugal summoned israeli envoys on thursday over concerns about the treatment of flotilla activists and in protest of ben gvir s actions the actions of mr ben gvir toward the passengers of the global sumud flotilla condemned even by his own colleagues in the israeli government are unacceptable french foreign affairs minister jean noel barrot said turkey greece italy and indonesia also condemned israel for ben gvir s comments and the treatment of flotilla activists turkey sends planes to retrieve activists turkey was sending planes to retrieve turkish citizens and others who participated in the flotilla turkish foreign minister hakan fidan said thursday around 85 turkish nationals took part in the latest flotilla according to turkish media dozens of the activists boats began setting sail from spain to gaza in april with organizers saying they want to draw renewed attention to the conditions for nearly 2 million palestinians in the gaza strip israel stopped 20 vessels from the group on april 30 near the southern greek island of crete and forced most of its activists to disembark there israel took two high profile activists spanish swedish citizen saif abukeshek and brazilian citizen thiago ávila back to israel where they were interrogated and detained for around a week before being deported the activists accused israel of torture claims israel denies brazil and spain condemned israel for kidnapping their citizens participants then regrouped and more than 50 boats departed from the turkish port of marmaris on may 14 israeli forces began stopping the boats around 268 kilometers 167 miles from the gaza coastline off the coast of cyprus according to the flotilla s website israel has repeatedly blocked similar attempts israel s foreign ministry has called the flotilla a pr stunt at the service of hamas with no real intent to deliver aid to gaza the boats carry a tiny symbolic amount of aid this week the u s treasury imposed sanctions against several european activists aboard the flotilla which u s treasury secretary scott bessent called pro terror last year israeli authorities blocked a similar attempt involving about 50 vessels and some 500 activists including swedish climate campaigner greta thunberg nelson mandela s grandson mandla mandela and several european lawmakers israel arrested detained and later deported the participants who claimed israeli authorities abused them israeli authorities denied the accusations blockade of gaza in place since 2007 israel has maintained a sea blockade of gaza since hamas took control of the territory in 2007 israeli authorities intensified it after the hamas led militant attacks on southern israel that killed around 1 200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage on oct 7 2023 critics say the blockade amounts to collective punishment israel says it s intended to prevent hamas from arming itself egypt which has the only border crossing with gaza not controlled by israel has also greatly restricted movement in and out israel s retaliatory offensive following the oct 7 attacks that started the war has killed more than 72 700 people according to gaza s health ministry the ministry part of gaza s hamas run government doesn t give a breakdown between civilians and combatants it is staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community ___ ap journalists andrew wilks in istanbul menelaos hadjicostis in nicosia cyprus and russ bynum in savannah georgia contributed to this report copyright 2026 by the associated press all rights reserved this material may not be published broadcast rewritten or redistributed