Israel set to deport eight activists, including French MEP, over Gaza boat

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Eight pro-Palestinian activists including a French member of the European Parliament will soon be forcibly deported from Israel, three days after the Israeli navy prevented them from sailing into Gaza, their legal advisers said on Thursday.

Four other members of the 12-strong crew aboard the charity vessel, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, agreed to leave Israel voluntarily on Tuesday, hours after the navy had brought them ashore.

The other eight crew refused to leave, accusing Israel of acting illegally, and have been held in a detention centre while an Israeli court reviewed their legal status.

However, Israeli rights group Adalah, which has provided the activists with legal assistance, said the group had lost their battle against repatriation.

French MEP Rima Hassan and five other activists have been taken to Tel Aviv airport and will be flown out of the country in the next 24 hours, Adalah said in a statement. The remaining two crew members will be expelled on Friday afternoon.

"Their continued detention and forced deportation are unlawful and a part of Israel's ongoing violations of international law," Adalah said in a statement.

There was no immediate confirmation from Israel which earlier this week dismissed the Gaza-bound sea mission as a pro-Hamas publicity stunt.

"Greta and her friends brought in a tiny amount of aid on their celebrity yacht. It did not help the people of Gaza. This was nothing but a ridiculous gimmick," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters on Tuesday.

Israel has imposed a naval blockade on Gaza since Hamas took control of the coastal enclave in 2007. It tightened its grip significantly after Hamas-led militants rampaged through southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies.

Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has since killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and reduced much of the territory to a wasteland.

(Reporting by Nuha Sharaf, Writing by Crispian Balmer, Editing by Hugh Lawson)