The activists had set out to protest Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which is among the deadliest and most destructive since World War II, and its restrictions on the entry of aid.

Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel on Tuesday, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza.

An aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists was intercepted by Israeli forces en route to Gaza and arrived at an Israeli port on Monday. Turkey calls it an illegal and "heinous attack."