A total of 137 humanitarian activists, including 36 Turkish citizens, who were illegally detained by Israel after participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza, were flown to Türkiye on Saturday afternoon.

The activists – part of a civilian aid mission aimed at breaking Israel’s inhumane blockade of Gaza – landed at Istanbul Airport at 3:50 p.m. local time (1250 GMT) on a Turkish Airlines flight from Ramon Airport in the occupied Palestinian territories. They were received by officials, humanitarian groups, and a large welcoming crowd that hailed them as heroes of conscience.

According to local reports, the returning activists will undergo medical checks before providing testimony to Istanbul Police as part of an investigation launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The inquiry focuses on Israel’s unlawful detention of Turkish nationals in international waters, which Ankara has denounced as a violation of international law and a blatant act of state piracy.

The group of freed passengers included citizens from the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Switzerland, Tunisia, and Jordan, reflecting the truly global character of the solidarity mission.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, consisting of 42 vessels and more than 400 volunteers from over 40 countries, set sail in August carrying food, medicine, and essential humanitarian aid destined for the besieged people of Gaza. The mission sought to peacefully challenge Israel’s illegal naval blockade, which has strangled Gaza’s population for nearly two decades.

Instead, Israeli occupation forces launched a violent interception in international waters, seizing all vessels, detaining hundreds of activists, and once again demonstrating contempt for international maritime law.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza, imposed in 2007 after Hamas came to power, has long been condemned by the United Nations and human rights groups as a form of collective punishment. The siege was further intensified following Hamas’s Al-Aqsa Flood Operation in October 2023, leaving Gaza’s population of over 2 million on the brink of famine, without access to adequate medical supplies, fuel, or basic infrastructure.

Despite repeated warnings from humanitarian organizations, Israel continues to starve Gaza while carrying out daily bombardments that have claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian lives.

Türkiye has strongly condemned Israel’s assault on the flotilla, calling it an act of terrorism on the high seas. Ankara stressed that the volunteers were unarmed civilians whose only “crime” was to deliver food and medicine to starving families in Gaza.

Activists and civil society groups worldwide have denounced the attack as a repeat of the infamous Mavi Marmara massacre of 2010, when Israeli commandos stormed another Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship, killing ten humanitarian workers in cold blood.

The return of the activists to Türkiye was hailed as a moral victory for the Global Sumud movement, which has vowed that flotillas will continue to sail until the siege of Gaza is lifted. (ILKHA)