Israel will on Monday return the remaining 28 Spanish detainees from a flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid to war-torn Gaza after 21 others arrived at the weekend, Spain’s foreign minister said.
“Today, the group of 28 Spanish flotilla members who remain detained in Israel will leave Israel,” Jose Manuel Albares told Catalunya Radio.
The minister declined to provide further details for privacy reasons but said: “We are working so that they all arrive in Spain as soon as possible.”
“The forecast is that today there will no longer be any Spaniards in jail in Israel,” Albares said.
Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate activist, was among dozens of other activists of different nationalities scheduled to depart Israel on Monday.
According to their respective governments on Sunday, the most, if not all, would be transported to Greece, from where they can catch planes back to their own countries.
Of the 49 Spanish inmates, Israel freed 21 more on Sunday.
After nearly two years of catastrophic conflict, the United Nations reports that starvation has spread to Gaza, where the Global Sumud Flotilla was trying to break through an Israeli siege to provide aid.
The UN said the famine was the result of the “systematic obstruction” of humanitarian aid deliveries by Israel.
Israel started intercepting the flotilla vessels in international waters on Wednesday.
An Israeli official said on Thursday that boats with more than 400 people on board had been prevented from reaching the occupied Palestinian territory.
