ROME, Oct 6, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The 15 remaining Italian citizens arrested by Israeli forces intercepting the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Aid Flotilla will leave Israel on Monday, Rome's foreign minister Antonio Tajani said.

"The last 15 Italians from the flotilla will leave tomorrow onboard a charter flight for Athens. They will benefit from our embassy's assistance at their depature, then while in Greece, during their transfer to Italy," Tajani said on X late Sunday.

Unlike a first group of 26 Italians who left Israel Saturday, the 15 had to wait for their judicial expulsion from the country as they refused to sign a form allowing their voluntary release.

The first group, when they returned to Italy, were welcomed some 200 people at Rome's Fiumicino airport. Several Italian members of the flotilla denounced their detention conditions and what they said was degrading treatment by the Israeli authorities.

Saverio Tommasi, a journalist for the online media site Fanpage, said he was hit in the back and on the head by his Israeli captors.

"We were treated like old monkeys in the worst circuses of the 1920s," said Tommasi, cited by the Ansa press agency.

The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail last month, ferrying politicians and activists including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg towards Gaza, where the United Nations says famine has taken hold.

The Israeli navy began intercepting the boats on Wednesday, and an Israeli official said the following day that boats with more than 400 people on board had been prevented from reaching the Palestinian territory.