Israel has released hundreds of the Gaza flotilla activists, who are in the process of being deported. Human rights group Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, or Adalah, confirmed that they were taken to Ramon Airport in the southern city of Eilat, from where they will be flown back to their countries of origin. Turkey sent airplanes to pick up some 85 Turkish activists who participated in what critics are calling a publicity stunt.

Israel is holding back one participant, Zohar Regev, who holds Israeli citizenship and has participated in previous flotillas, for illegal entry and unlawful stay. A court hearing is being held Thursday.

Adala pushed back against the detention, calling the charges “absurd” and “unfounded and contradictory accusations,” as Regev was “forcefully abducted” and “brought into Israeli territory entirely against her will,” though it has not clarified the connection between its characterization of the charges and Regev’s detention, which by its nature is involuntary. It has also not provided evidence that the charges are baseless.

The release of the activists follows a sharp rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to National Security Minister Ben-Gvir, who taunted activists while they were handcuffed and kneeling on the deck of a ship. The spectacle created a massive PR headache for Israel as several countries summoned their Israeli envoys to protest the act, which Netanyahu said was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”