كنت اريدها مدونة لعرض جرائم اسرائيل في فلسطين ولكن واضح ان فظائع النظام المصري لقمع ثورة الشباب وسأبدأ بتدوينها للتاريخ
More than 10 people have been killed after Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army says.
Armed forces boarded the largest vessel overnight, clashing with some of the 500 people on board.
It happened about 40 miles (64 km) out to sea, in international waters.
Israel says its soldiers were shot at and attacked with weapons; the activists say Israeli troops came on board shooting.
The activists were attempting to defy a blockade imposed by Israel after the Islamist movement Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007.
ANALYSIS
This was always going to be a high-risk operation for Israel both in terms of reputation and diplomatic repercussions.
Taking over vessels at sea is no easy task, even if the units carrying out the mission are well-trained, and it is especially difficult if the people already on board the vessels resist.
The full details of what happened will emerge in time, but in political terms the damage has already been done.
The deaths threaten to make what was always going to be a potential public relations disaster for Israel into a fully-fledged calamity.
Israel faces flotilla raid falloutThere has been widespread condemnation of the violence, with several countries summoning the Israeli ambassadors serving there.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "shocked by reports of killings and injuries" and called for a "full investigation" into what happened.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in Canada, has cancelled a scheduled visit to Washington on Tuesday to return to Israel, officials said.
Earlier, he expressed his "full backing" for the military involved in the raid, his office said.
The White House said the US "deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained" in the storming of the aid ship.
A spokesman said US officials were "currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy".
'Guns and knives'The six-ship flotilla, carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid, left the coast of Cyprus on Sunday and had been due to arrive in Gaza on Monday. Israel had repeatedly said the boats would not be allowed to reach Gaza.
Israel says its soldiers boarded the lead ship in the early hours but were attacked with axes, knives, bars and at least two guns.
"Unfortunately this group were dead-set on confrontation," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC.
"Live fire was used against our forces. They initiated the violence, that's 100% clear," he said.
Organisers of the flotilla said at least 30 people were wounded in the incident. Israel says 10 of its soldiers were injured, one seriously.
A leader of Israel's Islamic Movement, Raed Salah, who was on board, was among those hurt.
Contact with activists on the ships was lost after the raids and no first-hand accounts from them have yet emerged.
Arafat Shoukri, of the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) which organised the convoy, said those on board one ship had told them by telephone that Israeli helicopters had arrived.
"Then we started to hear screams, shouting, shooting everywhere," he said. "We heard some of them shouting 'we are raising the white flag, stop shooting at us'."
He said Israeli claims that activists had pistols and other weapons were "cheap propaganda".
Audrey Bomse, also of the FGM, told the BBC that the activists were "not going to pose any violent resistance".
By midday Israel had towed three of the six boats to the port of Ashdod and says it will deport the passengers from there.
CondemnationTurkish TV pictures taken on board the Turkish ship leading the flotilla appeared to show Israeli soldiers fighting to control passengers.
GAZA AID CONVOY
- Consists of three cargo ships and three passenger ships
- Casualties reported on the Mavi Marmara passenger ferry
- Mavi Marmara is one of three ships provided by Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH), a Turkish aid organisation with links to the Turkish government
- Other ships are organised by the Free Gaza Movement, an international coalition of activist groups
- Up to 600 mostly Turkish passengers, tonnes of cement and at least two journalists on board the Mavi Marmara
The footage showed a number of people, apparently injured, lying on the ground. A woman was seen holding a blood-stained stretcher.
Al-Jazeera TV reported from the same ship that Israeli navy forces had opened fire and boarded the vessel, wounding the captain.
The Al-Jazeera broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, saying: "Everybody shut up!"
Israel's deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said his country "regrets any loss of life and did everything to avoid this outcome".
He accused the convoy of a "premeditated and outrageous provocation", describing the flotilla as an "armada of hate".
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Israel's actions, saying it had committed a massacre, while Hamas said Israel had committed a "great crime and a huge violation of international law".
Turkey, whose nationals comprised the majority of those on board, accused Israel of "targeting innocent civilians".
Turkey was Israel's closest Muslim ally but relations have deteriorated over the past few years.
In Turkey, thousands of protesters demonstrated against Israel in Istanbul, while several countries have summoned Israeli ambassadors to seek an explanation as to what happened.
Greece has withdrawn from joint military exercises with Israel in protest at the raid on the flotilla.
Israel had repeatedly said it would stop the boats, calling the campaign a "provocation intended to delegitimise Israel".
Israel says it allows about 15,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid into Gaza every week.
But the UN says this is less than a quarter of what is needed.
Do you know someone aboard these ships? What is your reaction to this story? Send us your comments, pictures and videos.
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or 0044 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. In most cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below. If you wish to remain anonymous, please say so in the box.
CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/05/31/gaza.protest/index.html?hpt=T1
9 dead as Israeli forces storm Gaza aid convoy
May 31, 2010 -- Updated 1541 GMT (2341 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: UN Security Council will hold talks at 1 p.m. ET Monday on the incident
- NEW: Israeli PM Netanyahu cancels scheduled meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama
- Israel: "During the incident the soldier's lives were in danger"
- Aid convoy was taking supplies to Gaza in defiance of Israel's three-year blockade
(CNN) -- The international community on Monday condemned an Israeli naval commando raid on a flotilla carrying aid for Palestinians in Gaza, leaving 9 people dead.
Israel claimed it was defending itself, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) saying the soldiers' lives were in danger after they were attacked with "severe physical violence, including live fire, weapons, knives and clubs."
The Free Gaza Movement, one of the organizers of the aid, said that Israeli commandos dropped from a helicopter onto the deck of one of the ships and "immediately opened fire on unarmed civilians."
A senior Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in an independent account cleared by military censors, said Israeli troops were planning to deal with peace activists on a Gaza-bound flotilla, "not to fight."
The military official said most of the nine deaths were Turks. Twenty people were wounded. Seven Israeli soldiers were also wounded, one seriously.
All six boats in the flotilla were boarded according to the IDF but only one, the Mavi Mamara, offered resistance; the other five surrendered peacefully, the military said.
A host of nations condemned the military action and called for an investigation.
White House spokesman Bill Burton said the United States "deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained and is currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy."
On Monday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled Tuesday's scheduled meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, according to Israeli government officials.
The United Nations Security Council will hold talks at 1 p.m. ET Monday on the incident.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he was "shocked by reports of killing of people in boats carrying supplies to Gaza. I condemn the violence and Israel must explain."
The Spanish and French governments called the action "disproportionate." The Italian foreign minister asked the European Union to investigate, and several nations, including Greece and Sweden, were summoning their Israeli ambassadors.
An indignant Turkey recalled its ambassador from Israel, canceled three planned military exercises with the Israeli military and called home its youth national football team, which had two games scheduled in Israel, said Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc.
Q&A: What is the blockade about?
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Chile, but will return after meeting with the Chilean president, Arinc said. The chief of the Turkish military was cutting short a trip to Egypt. The Turkish foreign minister, in Venezuela, was calling the United Nations Security Council to an emergency meeting, Arinc said.
"This operation will leave a bloody stain on the history of humanity," Arinc said. A Turkish group, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation or IHH, was one of the organizers of the flotilla, but people from various nations were aboard.
In a statement, Bahrain called it a "barbaric attack" on the part of Israel.
Israeli military gives version of flotilla incident
The British Foreign Minister William Hague said: "We have consistently advised against attempting to access Gaza in this way, because of the risks involved. But at the same time, there is a clear need for Israel to act with restraint and in line with international obligations."
"This operation will leave a bloody stain on the history of humanity.
The flotilla was being taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod, according to IDF.
Fifteen of the people captured were transferred to an Israeli prison in Beer Sheva, a spokesman for the Israeli Prison authority said Monday.
The Free Gaza Movement, one of the groups sponsoring the flotilla, disputed Israel's claim of violence by people aboard the ships.
"At about 4:30 am, Israeli commandos dropped from a helicopter onto deck of Turkish ship, immediately opened fire on unarmed civilians," said a post on the group's Twitter page.
Video aired on CNN sister network CNN Turk showed soldiers abseiling onto the deck of a ship from a helicopter above. The boarding of the ships took place more than 70 nautical miles outside Israeli territorial waters, according to IHH.
The Turkish foreign ministry said the incident "might cause irreversible consequences" in the nation's relationship with Israel.
"They wanted to make a political statement. They wanted violence.
"Israel has once again clearly demonstrated that it does not value human lives and peaceful initiatives through targeting innocent civilians," the statement said. "We strongly condemn these inhuman acts of Israel."
Meanwhile, a protest that began outside the Israeli embassy in Istanbul on Sunday continued into Monday. Although largely peaceful, police did use water cannons at one point to keep demonstrators at bay. Israel issued a "serious travel warning" for Israelis visiting Turkey. Those planning to travel to Turkey were asked to postpone their trip, while those in Turkey were advised to stay indoors.
The Israeli PM office has issues a serious travel warning for Israeli travelers visiting Turkey. The warning calls Israelis who are about to travel into Turkey to postpone their trip and for Israelis in Turkey to remain indoors and avoid presence in the city centers.
In Gaza, where the flotilla was headed, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called for global support of the Palestinian cause.
"The Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla is an ugly crime and against international law and this reflects the nature of the criminal Israeli occupation," Zuhri said. "We call upon the free world Arab and Muslim world to stand in support and help and support the international activists who have been subjected to killing in the middle of the sea."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for three days of mourning in the Palestinian territories to honor the lives lost.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev accused the leaders of the flotilla of looking for a fight.
"They wanted to make a political statement. They wanted violence," according to Regev, who said Israel wanted a peaceful interception of the ships trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. "They are directly responsible for the violence and the deaths that occurred."
The convoy of boats approached Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade and had been shadowed by three Israeli warships. Free Gaza had reported Sunday that they had been contacted by the Israeli navy.
The boats left European ports in a consolidated protest organized by two pro-Palestinian groups to deliver tons of food and other aid to Gaza to break a blockade imposed by Israel in 2007.
The maritime convoys were organized by both the Free Gaza Movement and the IHH, a humanitarian relief foundation affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood religious group.
Israel said Sunday that Western and Turkish authorities have accused IHH of having "working relations" with different terrorist organizations
Aljazeera
Israeli commandos have attacked a flotilla of aid-carrying ships off the coast of the Gaza Strip, killing up to 19 people on board. Dozens of others were injured when troops raided the convoy of six ships, dubbed the Freedom Flotilla, early on Monday. Israel said activists on board attacked its commandos as they boarded the ships, while the flotilla's organisers said the Israeli forces opened fire first, as soon as they stormed the convoy. Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, gave his "full backing" to the military forces after the raid. "The prime minister... reiterated his full backing for the IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] and inquired about the well-being of the wounded," his office told the AFP news agency. Israeli media reported that many of the dead were Turkish nationals. Organisers of the Freedom Flotilla say it was carrying 700 activists and 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid with the aim of breaking the Israeli siege of Gaza. Protests worldwide Hamas, the Palestinian group which governs the Gaza Strip, said the assault was a "massacre" and called on the international community to intervene. Hamas, whose leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, called the Israeli action "barbaric", urged Arabs and Muslims to show their anger by staging protests outside Israeli embassies across the globe. The call came even as demonstrations denouncing the Israeli raid were being held in many cities around the world, including the capitals of Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank clashed with Israeli security forces who responded with tear gas, injuring many. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, officially declared a three-day state of mourning. Thousands of Turkish protesters tried to storm the Israeli consulate in Istanbul soon after the news of the operation broke. The protesters shouted "Damn Israel" as police blocked them. "[The interception on the convoy] is unacceptable ... Israel will have to endure the consequences of this behaviour," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement. The United Nations Security Council was to meet on Monday afternoon for an emergency session to discuss the matter. Turkey, Spain, Greece, Denmark and Sweden have all summoned the Israeli ambassadors in their respective countries to protest against the assault. Live ammunition Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal, on board the flotilla's lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, said in his last report before communications were cut off, that Israeli troops used live ammunition during the assault. The Israeli military, 10 of whose soldiers were reportedly wounded in the operation, said troops opened fire after "demonstrators on board attacked the IDF naval personnel with live fire and light weaponry including knives and clubs". Our correspondent said that a white surrender flag was raised from the ship and there was no live fire coming from the passengers. Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from the Israeli port of Ashdod, were the aid ships were taken after the assault, said the Israeli army was not giving any details of who had been killed, injured or detained. She said at least 16 flotilla activists had been taken to an Israeli prison after the first two ships docked. "As soon as [the ships] land here, the goods are taken, put into a terminal, and the passengers undergo extensive security checks. "[They are] given the choice either to go home straight away, in which case they're being bussed to Tel Aviv airport, or if they resist deportation, they are taken to a nearby detention centre where we understand they will be for at least 72 hours." Defending Monday's military raid, Mark Regev, the Israeli government spokesperson, said the Israeli commandos came under fire from people on board the flotilla whom he branded as "violent extremists". "Israel was totally within its rights under international law to intercept the ship and to take it to the port of Ashdod," he told Al Jazeera. "Unfortunately they were met by the activists on the boats with deadly violence, knives, metal clubs, even live fire on our service people. They initiated the violence." He said the people on board the flotilla were not peaceful activists. "They are part of the IHH, which is a radical Turkish Islamist organisation which has been investigated by Western governments and by the Turkish government itself in the past for their links with terrorist organisations." Turkish denial The Turkish parliament has dismissed this claim, saying it had investigated the ship and the people on board, finding no links to such organisations. Murat Mercan, the head of Turkey's foreign relations committee, said claiming that activists on board had links to terrorist organisations was Israel's way of covering up its mistake. "Any allegation that the members of this ship is attached to al-Qaeda is also again a big lie because there are Israeli civilians, Israeli authorities, Israeli parliamentarians on board the ship," he told Al Jazeera. "Does he [Regev] think that those are also attached to al-Qaeda?" The flotilla was attacked in international waters, 65km off the Palestinian coastal enclave. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, confirmed that the attack took place in international waters, saying: "This happened in waters outside of Israeli territory, but we have the right to defend ourselves." Footage from the Mavi Marmara showed armed Israeli soldiers boarding the ship and helicopters flying overhead. Israeli accounts of the incident said its navy had contacted the Mavi Marmara's captain asking him to identify himself and say where the ship was headed. Shortly afterwards, two Israeli naval vessels flanked the flotilla on either side, but at a distance. Organisers of the flotilla then diverted their ships and slowed down to avoid a confrontation during the night. They also issued all passengers life jackets and asked them to remain below deck. Troops on alert Following the news of the flotilla deaths, Israeli police were put on a heightened state of alert across the country to prevent any civil disturbances. Sheikh Raed Salah,a leading member of the Islamic Movement who was on board theMavi Marmara, was reported to have been seriously injured in Monday's raid. He was being treated in Israel's Tal Hasharon hospital. In Um Al Faham, the stronghold of the Islamic Movement in Israel and the birthplace of Salah, preparations for mass demonstrations were under way. Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists, including a Nobel laureate and several European legislators, were on board the flotilla. They came from the UK, Ireland, Algeria, Kuwait, Greece and Turkey among other countries. But Israel had said it would stop the flotilla before it could reach Gaza. The flotilla had set sail from a port in Cyprus on Sunday and aimed to reach Gaza by Monday morning. Israel said the boats were embarking on "an act of provocation" against the Israeli military rather than providing aid, and issued warrants to prohibit their entrance to Gaza. It asserted that the flotilla would be breaking international law by landing in Gaza, a claim the organisers rejected.Deadly Israeli raid on aid fleet
Al Jazeera's report from the ship Mavi Marmara before communications were cutLIVE BLOGGING Updates of Israel's attack on Gaza flotilla Dozens of activists were seriously injured
in the raid[AFP]
