Gaza flotilla activists who were detained by Israel and later pinned to the ground to the taunts of Israel’s far-right police minister have been released from prison and will be deported to Turkey on Thursday, officials said.
About 15 Irish citizens were among the more than 400 people detained.
The activists were arrested at a port in southern Israel after the Israeli navy intercepted their protest flotilla in international waters. Their treatment by police officers under Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s direction drew an international outcry and a rebuke from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ben-Gvir and at least one other minister in Netanyahu’s government, transport chief Miri Regev, posted campaign-style videos of themselves visiting the port and lambasting the protesters, attention-grabbing antics ahead of potential early elections in Israel.
Flotilla organisers say they aim to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by delivering humanitarian assistance, something aid bodies say is still in short supply despite a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in place since October 2025 that includes guarantees of increased aid.
The flotilla departed from southern Turkey this week before being intercepted on Wednesday. Past flotillas – including one carrying Swedish activist Greta Thunberg – were also intercepted by Israel, with participants later deported.
In a statement, Israeli rights group Adalah said the estimated 430 activists had been released from prison in southern Israel and would be deported via the Ramon airport near Eilat on the Red Sea.
Dr Suhad Bishara, a lawyer associated with the Global Sumud Flotilla, also said on Thursday morning that all but a small number of those detained will be taken to Ramon Airport in the south of the country where two aeroplanes will transport them to Turkey, while three had been deported through Ben Gurion Airport instead.
She told RTÉ Radio One’s Today with David McCullagh programme that they would then take further flights to their home countries. It is understood Dr Margaret Connolly, sister of President Catherine Connolly, will be among those returning.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has written to the president of the European Council calling for a European Union-wide ban on products from Israeli settlements and the suspension of the EU’s Association Agreement with Israel following its “shocking treatment” of the Gaza activists detained at sea.
Martin wrote to António Costa expressing his grave concern at the treatment of EU citizens, including some Irish people, who are being illegally detained by the Israel Defense Forces in international waters.
He called for the matter to be on the agenda of the next EU summit in June.
Martin also condemned what he described as the unacceptable behaviour of the far-right Israeli minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who posted videos on social media of him taunting and haranguing the protesters, all of whom had their hands bound behind their backs and were forced to kneel on the floor.
A detained Irish activist, Catriona Graham, is seen at the start of the video standing up and chanting “Free, Free Palestine” just before Ben-Gvir walks past, before she is restrained by soldiers and pushed back down by the head to a kneeling position.
In his letter, the Taoiseach said the interception and treatment of those onboard were the latest examples of Israel’s growing disregard for international norms and its failure to meet its obligations under international law.
Martin had written that seven months after a ceasefire was called in Gaza, aid has yet to reach the population in sufficient volumes, and conditions there remain shocking.
He referred to continued expansion of Israeli illegal settlements in the West Bank with settlers inflicting extreme violence against Palestinian communities. It is, he said, a deliberate attempt to undermine the viability of the two-state solution.
He also referred to the introduction of the death penalty in Israel and its incursion into southern Lebanon, and widespread bombing of the country, especially its capital Beirut.
In those circumstances, Martin argued in the letter, the EU cannot continue with a “business as usual” approach to Israel.
To further his call for a ban on illegal settlement goods and the suspension of the EU-Israel agreement, he asked for an urgent discussion among EU leaders at the next meeting of the European Council on June 18th and 19th, when it is due to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Turkey is planning special flights from Israel on Thursday to fly out its citizens and some activists from third countries who joined the intercepted aid flotilla, its foreign minister Hakan Fidan said. – additional reporting agencies