The Flotilla activists arrive in Turkey after being deported by Israel

BarcelonaThe 438 activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla detained by Israel, including 44 Spaniards, arrived in Turkey on Thursday afternoon. The activists landed in Istanbul on three Turkish Airlines planes, and those who were injured were transferred by ambulances that were waiting for them at the airport, where relatives were also present. After the reception ceremony, they are expected to be transferred to the Istanbul forensic medicine institute to undergo examinations as part of an investigation initiated by the prosecutor's office of that city, according to the Turkish state news agency Anadolu.

The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, had announced in the morning that the deportation from Israel would take place today. "The Spanish consul in Israel has just informed us that they are already being transferred to an airport [...] with the rest of the activists to, as everything indicates, be deported via Turkey," he commented in an interview with TVE.

The ministry has summoned the Israeli chargé d'affaires, Dana Erlich, to protest what it considers humiliating the detainees and in which they were seen forced to be in stress positions, kneeling with their hands tied with zip ties behind their backs and their heads to the ground, generated condemnation from several affected countries.

On Wednesday night, the lawyers of the Palestinian organization Adalah, who were able to visit the detainees, reported "physical and psychological abuses," which led to "serious and generalized injuries" during the detention, including three activists who had to be hospitalized. They documented "dozens of participants with suspected broken ribs and difficulty breathing," as well as the use of Taser guns and injuries from the use of rubber bullets at the time of the assault and on the prison ship to which they were transferred. They also reported sexual harassment and humiliation and that Israeli soldiers and police had torn the veil from some Muslim participants.

"The latest information we have [from the activists] was the black screen of the ships' cameras when they were boarded," explained Laia Rosell, a relative of one of the Catalans on board the Flotilla. She denounced the violence of the Israeli assault, which was confirmed in some of the videos, where soldiers were seen firing at the boats, and at least one was rammed. In a press conference called by the organization, Rosell recalled the families of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners "who do not know when or if they will return home".

Josep Vendrell, a former Comuns deputy and partner of Laura Campos, the former mayor of Montcada i Reixac who is participating in the Flotilla, denounced "the act of Israeli piracy in international waters in front of the European Union" and called for the suspension of the EU's preferential agreement with the State of Israel, as well as legal actions and sanctions against "a country that commits genocide and disregards all international law".

The Global Sumud Flotilla denounces the "complicity" of the European Union in the two assaults by the Israeli navy against its vessels, which resulted in about seventy ships destroyed and abandoned adrift and more than 600 participants detained. The humanitarian mission to denounce the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip was intercepted on both occasions in international waters, first in the search and rescue zone of responsibility of Greece and then in that of Cyprus. The twenty Catalan activists who were detained in Israel are expected to arrive at Barcelona airport on Friday.