Deaths as Israeli forces storm Gaza aid ship

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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.

There 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.

Audrey Bomse, a spokesperson for the Free Gaza Movement, which is behind the convoy, told the BBC Israel's actions were disproportionate.

"We were not going to pose any violent resistance. The only resistance that there might be would be passive resistance such as physically blocking the steering room, or blocking the engine room downstairs, so that they couldn't get taken over. But that was just symbolic resistance."

She said there was "absolutely no evidence of live fire".

Israel is towing the boats to the port of Ashdod and says it will deport the passengers from there. It says it will deliver the ships' aid to Gaza.
Condemnation

Turkish TV pictures taken on board the Turkish ship leading the flotilla appeared to show Israeli soldiers fighting to control passengers.

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".

"We strongly denounce Israel's inhumane interception," it said, warning of "irreparable consequences" to the two countries' relations.

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.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle ... 195838.stm
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I've read other reports saying 15 or 16. I've heard from a source that there were numerous Swedes on board the attacked vessel including:

Ulf Carmesund, theologian...
Mehmet Kaplan, riksdagsledamot (mp)...
Henning Mankell, writer...
Henry Ascher, pediatrician...
Viktoria Strand, chief (senior) physician...
Dror Feiler, artist...
Saman Ali
Mattias Gardell, writer, professor at Uppsala Universitet
Kimberly Soto Aguayo
Amil Sarsour
Edda Manga

Don't worry. The Israelis will get away with it. If they could attack the US warship Liberty and murder US Navy sailors without raising US protest there is nothing they can't get away with. All they have to do is wave the Holocaust in people's faces and nothing will happen.

Get away with it ?
Actually Israel is constantly condemned for acts which goes unnoticed when done daily anywhere else in the world and is the only country in the world where it right to exist is constantly discussed,
usually by the most inhuman regimes and ppl like u.
Your calling attention to a friendly fire incident that was happened many many years ago just help to show your double standard hypocrisy on any matter concerning Israel,
Israel would get away with anything as long as it is people like u pretend to speak for humanity and justice,
Where a more balanced and much needed objective look at the situation would lead to it resolved years ago.

Ppl on board this ship where given many chances to resolve this situation peacefully and rejected any one of them ,
Perhaps because unfortunately The "peace activists" where as peaceful as u .

Being condemned in word is different than condemned in action. Israel is constantly kept guarded from any such actionable repercussions by the US.

To have attacked a clearly marked American warship and machine gunned the survivors and be brainwashed into claiming it was friendly fire is merely a defined exposure of how totally brainwashed this Israeli is. The evidence is clear, open and not misinterpreted. I can smell BS from a mile away.See http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICL ... berty.html

By supporting the Palestinians, one is an anti-Semite and a bigot, and possibly a Holocaust denier.

By supporting the Israelis, one is anti-Muslim and a bigot.

I am perplexed.

Shipping off topic

This is one of those situations in which a mediator from some mutually accepted country might be needed to help with aid into Gaza, to ensure weapons are not imported. Aid is meant to be aid, and if there is not enough aid coming into Gaza, something needs to be done about this.

It is hard not to be paranoid about anything in the Middle East--on both sides. Instead of blaming either side, and to avoid further escalation of hostilities, both sides need to agree on what this aid consists of, and to monitor/track it peacefully before it reaches its destination.

Sometimes you have to try different ideas. I have done this in the past, and I am doing this now in my family to try to defuse a potential crisis.

In the case of the Liberty Israel made sure there were no survivors to tell the real story. That way they could stick with their cover story of having thought it was an Egyptian ship.

In this case, part of the story is already out thanks to a satellite uplink from one of the ships that Israel failed to jam:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn-l_Jlt ... r_embedded

It appears that one person was killed and the ship attacked with stun grenades and tear gas even before the boarding.

There were survivors. This from the link I posted.

Fifteen years after the attack, an Israeli pilot approached Liberty survivors and then held extensive interviews with former Congressman Paul N. (Pete) McCloskey about his role. According to this senior Israeli lead pilot, he recognized the Liberty as American immediately, so informed his headquarters, and was told to ignore the American flag and continue his attack. He refused to do so and returned to base, where he was arrested.

Who doesn't ?
Doe's china,the USA, Britain,Russia or any other of the bullies of this world ever took responsibilities and paid for a much worse and unjustifiable acts the caries on a regular basis ?
Does any of the countries around us ever paid for the countless atrocities they commit and human rights they violates daily ?
Israel is a very bad country,
most countries are much worse/

Evidently u can't smell yourself as there enough wrong doings in this world with out obsessing on some conspiracy promoted mostly by hate sites maintained by some of the trashier individuals ever walked this earth.
As if Israel would go to war against the USA, u have to be total moron to believe such crap/

Israel was offering to pass the aid to Gaza but was turned away,
I believe that since the Gazan are at war with Israel she have the right to monitor what goes into the strip
BTW
Tones of supplies goes daily in Gaza,
I'm not sure that any of your respected countries would supplied it's deadly enemy the way Israel do.

I support the Palestinians and am not anti-Semite and a bigot, and possibly a Holocaust denier,
I just try to stay factual and well informed as possible.
I've been sending aid to Gaza long before the Turks took interest in capitalizing on their suffering
I demonstrated against the the occupation of the west bank from the day we won it over at 67
Allays vote left of the left
I deserted the army because i wouldn't take part in an army that deal with keeping civilian under controls and paid dearly for this
that's why i hate the on- sided, self-righteous, narcissistic pseudo left who only make things worse than what they already are by inciting hateful ignorance so he can look pretty in the mirror/

I realize the problem here: you're brainwashed into hard duality. You can't perceive anything beyond essentially what George W. Bush said "You're either with us or you're with the terrorists".


Oh the manipulations that can be achieved through the use of the dualistic perspective illusion. Shame that we live in a three dimensional world and not a digital one; things are more than just 0's and 1's. Maybe you'll wake up to realize this some day. Maybe not...you're a useful person to be manipulated and you're target #1 to be kept under control.

Only when u can see beyond the 3D world u can accept the duality inherent in reality and be free to see the deeper truth,
unfortunately i'ts seems that as far as this thread goes i'm the only one her to able to think,practice and experience reality freed from a the usual brainwashed clichés that u adhere to and if u would have the intellect needed to understand what u just wrote u would understand that the trouble with W. Bush is the same problem u have,namely inability to understand and handle a the complex duality that define our existence because i fought the Arabs yet i'm very active in the struggle for peace in this region because unlike u and your spoiled friends i can understand and experience the complexities of reality where u like Bush think that if i'm Israeli i must be against peace or a just solution in this area just because i don't buy to any peace of propaganda.
BTW
the world we live in is three dimensional and digital 0 and 1 at the same time
that's the beauty of it but i guess there is no chance the the W. Bushes of the world would have a real chance to get it
Anyway i think u should at least try.

It isn't a duality, though. It's a plurality of perspective through a multitude of dualities and shades of grey within those dualities. The dualities themselves are only a small part of a larger picture.

I don't think that you're against peace so much as that you tend to believe your government a little too readily for your own good (and they tend to disseminate information in terms of base dualities). Or, at least, that's the impression that I'm given because despite your claims of desertion and opposition to the occupation*, you've sided with the Israeli government's story on the matter despite video and reports claiming otherwise and the Israeli government's history of lying about what happens with the military and what methods are used.

*I'd also assume you're also against the illegal construction in the occupied lands. All good things.