All detained activists en route home: Israel

Occupied Jerusalem: The hundreds of activists detained in a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla have all been released from prison to be deported, a prisons authority spokesman said on Wednesday.

"There are no longer any detainees in prison," Yron Zamir told AFP when asked about the activists detained after Monday's commando raid in international waters that killed nine passengers.

He said they were all taken to Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv or to the Jordanian border.

Israel's attorney general Yehuda Weinstein says Israel has decided not to prosecute any of the activists.

Officials had earlier said they were considering prosecuting about 50 people believed to be involved in violence.

But Weinstein wrote in his order Wednesday that "keeping them here would do more damage to the country's vital interests than good." Israeli soldiers killed nine activists in the raid Monday.

Authorities said 682 people from 42 countries had been aboard the six ships that tried to bust the Gaza blockade.

There was very little official information about the condition of the injured passengers being treated in Israeli hospitals.

Physicians for Human Rights put the number of wounded activists at 52.

Meanwhile, In his first remarks on it, Pope Benedict urged Mideast authorities to hold talks and to guarantee better conditions for Palestinians who live in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli and Egyptian naval blockade since 2007.

"With profound trepidation, I am following the events that occurred near the Gaza Strip," Benedict told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.

"I feel the need to express my heartfelt condolences for the victims of this most sorrowful event, which worry all those who have peace in the region at their heart."

Gaza aid flotilla activists deported from Israel arrived in Jordan on Wednesday as regional and international anger mounted against an Israeli attack on a Gaza aid convoy, with Turkey leading the way saying "enough is enough".

Many reports have emerged from among the 124 activist who crossed over into Amman, Jordan on Wednesday. One of the activists recounted his ordeal, saying that the Israelis were "brutal and arrogant".

"Israelis roughed up and humiliated all of us, women, men and children," said Kuwaiti Member of Parliament Walid Al Tabtabai.

According to a report in the Guardian, an Algerian activist, who gave her name as Sabrina, said that Israeli troops pointed their gun at a one-year-old Turkish child in front of his parents to force the captain of the Mavi Marmara to stop sailing.

"It was an ugly kidnapping and subsequently bad treatment in Israeli jail," said Algerian Izzeddine Zahrour. "They handcuffed us, pushed us around and humiliated us."

Read more about the activists' ordeals

Among those who arrived in Jordan was Gulf News reporter Abbas Al Lawati, who was aboard the Mavi Marmara when it was attacked by Israeli forces on Monday.

Speaking to Gulf News, Al Lawati said that all of his possessions have been confiscated, including his passport. This means he will be sent to his home country of Oman, although he lives and works in Dubai.

Israel was deporting at least 250 detained activists, the Israeli army radio reported. Early on Wednesday, an Israeli government official said that a first group of around 50 Turkish nationals were headed to Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, from where they would be deported.

The decision to release the activists came after mounting international pressure to free the detainees.

International reaction to Israeli attack on Freedom Flotilla

The UN Security Council called for the ships and the civilians who had been on board to be released and to transport the aid to Gaza.

"This bloody massacre by Israel on ships that were taking humanitarian aid to Gaza deserves every kind of curse," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, demanding that Israel immediately lift its "inhumane" blockade of Gaza.

"They have once again showed to the world that they know how good they are at killing people," Erdogan said. "Israel in no way can legitimise this murder, it cannot wash its hands of this blood." Erdogan added that Turkey would continue to support the Palestinian people.

Video: Protests in Gaza 

Call for an investigation

Worldwide, protests coincided with a United Nations Security Council decision to condemn Israel, in a marathon 12-hour session, pitting Turkey against Israel's biggest ally, the US.

Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered that the Rafah borders be temporarily opened to allow aid into Gaza.

Text of the UN Security Council statement

Kuwait on Tuesday pulled out of the Arab peace initiative after accepting a resolution passed by the parliament. The recommendation had urged the government to pull out of the peace plan that offered Israel full normalisation of ties in exchange for full withdrawal from occupied Arab land.

The UAE's Federal National Council condemned the attack and called for an international investigation.

European Union (EU) foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton promised that Europe would intensify its efforts to get Israel to lift its Gaza blockade.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Israel should stand trial. "The Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Conference must not be satisfied with anything less than a full lifting of the Gaza blockade," he said.

The Arab League was to meet late last night in an emergency session in Cairo.

With inputs from Alice Johnson, Staff Reporter, and agencies

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