Hundreds of Israeli police officers were deployed Thursday to the southern port of Ashdod to process some 450 international activists detained by Israeli naval forces hours earlier in the Mediterranean Sea, Israeli authorities said.

The activists, including European lawmakers, were taking part of a flotilla attempting to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza when their vessels were intercepted, drawing widespread condemnation and sparking protests around the world.

The Global Sumud Flotilla was the largest yet to try to break the blockade, and it comes at a time of growing criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, where its offensive has laid waste to wide swaths of territory and killed tens of thousands of people.

Activists had said they hoped that the sheer number of boats would make it more d

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