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A flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro Palestinian activists were attacked by Israeli commandos. 10 passengers were reportedly killed in a predawn raid which has received worldwide condemnation. The commandos were attacked with knives, clubs and live fire from two pistols that were snatched from soldiers after they rappelled from a helicopter to board one of the ships.
Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 10 passengers in a predawn raid that set off worldwide condemnation and a diplomatic crisis.
There were global repercussions with Turkey witnessing massive protests. They announced that their ambassador would be recalled and the military exercises with the Jewish state. The incident happened at a wrong time of the Israeli Palestinian peace efforts. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled for a meeting with President Barack Obama to discuss the next round of negotiations. The Israeli prime minister spoke from Toronto and expressed his “full backing” for the military.
The White House regretted the loss of lives and injuries and was working to understand the circumstances surrounding the “tragedy”.Egypt and Israel had put up a blockade after the territory was captured by the militant Hamas. There were different versions of the course of events on Monday where the activists had claimed that the Israelis had fired first while the Israelis claimed that they had fired in self defence.
An Israeli commando spoke to reporters from a naval vessel. He said that he and his comrades were surprised by a group of Arabic speaking men when they rappelled onto the deck.
He added that some of the soldiers were surprised by the attack and were stripped off their helmets and equipments. They were later thrown from the top deck to the lower deck.
A box which was confiscated from the boat was displayed by a high ranking naval official. The box contained switchblades, slingshots, metal balls and bats. A video of the massacre was telecast by a Turkish website with activists in orange life jackets running around as some tried to help an activist who was unconscious on the deck.
NTV, of Turkey showed one Israeli soldier being beaten by activist with sticks as he rappelled from a helicopter.
However, an AL Jazeera reporter on one of the Turkish ships said that the Israeli soldiers fired at the vessel before boarding it. The reporter said over the telephone from the Turkish ship that the Israeli navy forces fired at the ship before getting on to it.
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