ERBIL, Kurdistan of Iraq - The Israeli foreign ministry announced Thursday the release of all 430 Global Sumud Flotilla activists detained following the Gaza-bound vessels' interception in international waters earlier this week.

“All foreign activists from the PR flotilla have been deported from Israel. Israel will not permit any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza,” a post on X read.

Independent human rights organization and legal center Adalah confirmed that the activists have been “released from the Ktziot detention facility and are currently en route to deportation,” adding that its legal team “is actively monitoring the transit process to ensure that all activists are safely and fully deported without further delay.”

“Adalah emphasizes that the entire operation, from the unlawful interception in international waters to the systemic torture, humiliation, and arbitrary detention of peaceful activists, constitutes a flagrant violation of international law,” the statement further continued.

Ankara announced it has begun sending convots of aircraft to Israel to "bring our citizens and participants from third countries to Turkey via special charter flights," with foreign ministry sources confirming that "three flights" with a capacity for "more than 400 passengers" were being dispatched to Ramon Airport.

Unlike last September’s mission, this time the detention period was cut short – likely under pressure from the international and domestic outrage sparked by a video shared by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir that showed detainees being taunted, shoved to the ground, and bound in a kneeling position.

READ MORE: Gaza flotilla detainee video sparks Israeli political row, global condemnation

Italian journalist Alessandro Mantovani, who was detained with the flotilla activists and deported earlier than the rest, spoke to reporters at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on Thursday, asserting that he and others had been “taken to Ben Gurion airport in handcuffs and with chains on our feet and put on a flight to Athens.”

"They beat us up. They kicked us and punched us and shouted 'Welcome to Israel.' We were tied up and blindfolded,” he recounted. “I was beaten. The prison ship was a place of terror. Whenever the Israelis came, they fired deafening stun grenades, and at night they lit everything up with extremely powerful spotlights. They’re sadists.”

Suhad Bishara, the legal director for Adalah, told AFP on Wednesday that while the organization’s lawyers were able to provide legal counsel to "many" of the hundreds of activists, others had been forced to undergo court hearings without any legal assistance.

“We know of at least two participants who were hospitalized... both of them were shot by rubber bullets,” she said, adding that others had reported fearing they had broken ribs.

The attack against Global Sumud Flotilla vessels started on Monday morning, when Israeli forces intercepted the fleet in international waters west of Cyprus, about 460 kilometers from the coast of Gaza. By Tuesday evening, all the boats had been intercepted, with one managing to get within 80 nautical miles of the Palestinian territory, according to the mission’s organizers.

Despite the agreements stating that waters up to 12 nautical miles offshore should be under Palestinian control, the Israeli navy maintains a constant patrol of the area. Israel's official naval blockade, which is deemed illegal under international law, extends 20 miles out, yet military vessels frequently intercept boats long before they even reach territorial waters.

Exactly as they had done twenty days earlier, the Israeli military deployed four warships and a naval cargo vessel to intercept the flotilla. Activists were reportedly held aboard the cargo ship, while commandos used roughly half a dozen assault boats to seize control of the Sumud vessels, disabling their navigation systems and detaining the crews. On several occasions, soldiers pointed their rifles at unarmed activists, while warships maneuvered dangerously close to the sailboats before boarding them.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded his naval forces in unambiguous terms, stating, “You are doing an exceptional job. You are thwarting a wicked plan intended to break the isolation we are imposing on Hamas terrorists in Gaza.”

Last September’s mission, which brought together boats from Sicily, Barcelona, Genoa, and Tunisia, ended in a violent military crackdown that broke international law. The crew chose to press on even after their ships were targeted by suspected drone-based arson attacks off the coasts of Tunisia and Crete. Yet, on the night of October 1, the Israeli navy intercepted and boarded the vessels in international waters, about 72 miles out at sea.