An Israeli NGO representing activists detained aboard a boat attempting to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza said, on Thursday, June 12, that six were being deported, including two who were already on planes. "After more than 72 hours in Israeli custody following the unlawful interception of the Madleen Freedom Flotilla in international waters (...) six volunteers are now being transferred to Ben Gurion Airport for deportation," the Adalah rights group said in a statement. It added that the six activists – two French citizens and nationals of Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey – were expected to be deported on Thursday or early Friday.
Rima Hassan, a French MEP for the La France Insoumise (LFI, radical left) party, who is also of Palestinian descent, is among the six activists due to be expelled imminently.
Adalah later told Agence-France Presse (AFP) that two activists, one from Turkey and one from Germany, had already "both been deported and [are] on planes."
In total, 12 people were on board the Madleen sailing boat when it was intercepted by Israeli forces in the eastern Mediterranean, about 185 kilometers west of Gaza on Monday. Four of them, including two French citizens and Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, agreed to be deported immediately.
Another two French nationals remain in Israeli custody, awaiting their deportation on Friday, Adalah said. "While in custody, volunteers were subjected to mistreatment, punitive measures and aggressive treatment, and two volunteers were held for some period of time in solitary confinement," it added.
All 12 people on board the Madleen have been banned from Israel for 100 years.
Israel has faced mounting pressure to allow more aid into Gaza, where the United Nations has warned that the whole population of more than two million people is at risk of famine.