Turkey Arranges Evacuation Flight for Global Sumud Flotilla Volunteers From Israel

ANKARA — The Turkish government said it would dispatch a charter flight to Israel to repatriate Global Sumud activists who were abducted by Israel. The statement came a day after far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir provoked international outrage with a video belittling the activists. “We plan to bring our nationals and participants from third countries to Turkey via a specialised charter flight that we will organise today,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in a statement on Thursday. Fidan did not specify how many activists would be flown to Turkey, but Turkish media reported that 78 Turkish nationals were among those held. He said Turkey was seeking to “guarantee the safety of our citizens detained after unlawful intervention against the Global Sumud flotilla, and to facilitate their safe return to Turkey.” Earlier, Spain said 44 Spanish activists would be deported from Israel via Turkey today. Meanwhile Israel was reported to have released hundreds of activists who attempted to breach the blockade of Gaza and were in the process of deporting them, according to a legal organisation working with the flotilla. Adalah, the Israel-based legal advocacy group, said most of the approximately 430 international activists were transiting to a civilian airport near the southern city of Eilat to be deported. It said a court hearing was ongoing at Ashkelon Magistrates Court for one flotilla participant, Zohar Regev, who holds Israeli citizenship. Adalah said Regev was detained on “baseless and contradictory” charges including “illegal entry into Israel”, “residing outside the law” and for attempting to breach the Gaza blockade. The group said the charges were “nonsense” given that Regev was allegedly kidnapped by force in international waters and taken to Israeli territory entirely against his will.