Tel aviv: Trkiye's Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that 18 Turkish citizens, detained aboard the ships of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, had been taken to Ketziot Detention Center in Israel, and Turkish consulate officials were set to meet them face-to-face.

According to Anadolu Agency, 18 citizens have been taken to the Ketziot Detention Center, and consulate officials in Tel Aviv are expected to meet with these citizens face-to-face. The Foreign Ministry sources emphasized that all necessary steps had been taken to ensure the Turkish citizens' return to their country as soon as possible, including the arrangement of a special flight.

In addition to the 18 Turkish citizens, three Turkish MPs were on board the boats seized by Israel. They were brought to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv Wednesday night after being disembarked at the Port of Ashdod. The sources noted that these MPs might return to Trkiye via a third country by air.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition's Thousand Madleens to Gaza was attacked by the Israeli navy early Wednesday in international waters, roughly 120 nautical miles from the enclave. The convoy set sail after Israeli naval forces attacked and seized more than 40 boats last week that were part of the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla and detained over 450 activists on board. Most of them have been deported.

Israel, as the occupying power, has previously attacked Gaza-bound ships, seized their cargo, and deported activists on board. It has maintained a blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for nearly 18 years and tightened the siege in March, blocking food and medicine deliveries. Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 67,200 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, rendering it uninhabitable.