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Comment by truth on May 31, 2010 at 2:44am

Press TV - Death toll from Gaza aid attack hits 20 http://www.presstv.ir/classic/detail.aspx?id=128431&sectionid=3...

Comment by truth on May 31, 2010 at 2:12am

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Back to Israel boards Gaza-bound ships, 15 dead - reports
Israel boards Gaza-bound ships, 15 dead - reports

May 31, 2010

Dan Williams

JERUSALEM—About 15 people were killed on Monday when the Israeli navy intercepted a convoy of aid ships that activists were trying to sail to the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Channel 10 private television network said.

Earlier, a spokesman for the Free Gaza Movement which organized the six-ship flotilla said at least two were killed.

Casualties could hurt Israel’s international image and diplomatic relations, especially its long-time regional Muslim ally Turkey, whose flag some of the aid ships were flying.

Israel has said it was absolutely determined to maintain its blockade of the Islamist Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory of 1.5 million. It has previously halted such activist ships, although others have reached Gaza before.

Amid Israeli military censorship and a refusal of Israeli officials to comment on what appeared to be a continuing operation three hours after dawn broke over the Mediterranean, Channel 10 made clear it was not citing foreign sources.

After initially reporting that at least 10 people were dead, it later said the death toll was between 14 and 16. It said commandos who had boarded the convoy were still conducting searches and encountering what it called violent resistance.

“Two people have been killed on board the Turkish boat and 30 or more were wounded,” said Mary Hughes Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Free Gaza Movement, which was behind the convoy.

“As far as we know IDF (Israeli military) commandos descended on the boat from helicopters and took it over.”

The convoy set off in international waters off Cyprus on Sunday in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade of the Gaza Strip and warnings that it would be intercepted.

The flotilla was organized by pro-Palestinian groups and a Turkish human rights organization. Turkey had urged Israel to allow it safe passage and said the 10,000 tonnes of aid the convoy was carrying was humanitarian.

KEY ALLY

Turkey, long Israel’s best Muslim friend and a key ally in a hostile Middle East, was highly critical of Israel’s attack on Gaza 18 months ago, in which 1,400 Palestinians were killed. Relations between the two states are now distinctly chilly and bloodshed at sea will do nothing to improve them.

CNN showed pictures of a commando apparently sliding down a rope and clashing with a man wielding a stick. Other TV images showed what appared to be rubber boarding launches.

France 24 television aired video of a woman in a Muslim headress holding a stretcher with a large bloodstain on it. A man lay below her, apparently wounded, in a blanket.

Israel had said it would prevent the convoy from reaching the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Egypt tightened a blockade on Gaza after Hamas took over the territory in 2007. Israel launched a devastating military offensive in Gaza in December 2008 with the aim of halting daily rocket fire towards its cities.

Most of the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza rely on aid, blaming Israel for imposing restrictions on the amount and type of goods it allows into the territory.

The United Nations and Western powers have urged Israel to ease its restrictions to prevent a humanitarian crisis. They have been urging Israel to let in concrete and steel to allow for postwar reconstruction.

Israel denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying food, medicine and medical equipment are allowed in regularly. It says the restrictions are necessary to prevent weapons and materials that could be used to make them from reaching Hamas.

Comment by truth on May 31, 2010 at 1:42am

Screenshots of Israel assault on Turkish ship #flotilla

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comment by fireguy on May 31, 2010 at 1:40am

John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Pray for these people and their families, the Israelis and Palestinians and all of us.

Comment by truth on May 31, 2010 at 1:35am

George Galloway Speaks Out against Israel's attack on the flotilla ...

Comment by truth on May 31, 2010 at 1:22am

It is simple piracy, they were 90 miles from Gaza and most likely killed many from various nations. These people are aid workers!

http://twitter.com/freegazaorg

http://twitter.com/search?q=%23FLOTILLA

Comment by fireguy on May 31, 2010 at 1:11am

Obama and Hillary will be talking it up over the next couple of days, just watch, along with all the rest of the CFR, Trilats, Jimmy Carter will be there and maybe a guest appearance by GW.

Comment by fireguy on May 31, 2010 at 1:05am

TIA GOLDENBERG

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9104220

Associated Press Writer= HAIFA, Israel (AP) — Israeli warships attacked at least one of the six ships carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid for blockaded Gaza, killing at least two and wounding an unknown number of people on board, an Arabic satellite service and a Turkish TV network reported early Monday.

The Israeli military refused to comment on the report.

The al-Jazeera satellite channel reported by telephone from the Turkish ship leading the flotilla that Israeli navy forces fired at the ship and boarded it, wounding the captain. The Turkish NTV network also reported an Israeli takeover with gunfire, and at least two people were killed.

The al-Jazeera broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!"

The reports came just after daybreak, with the flotilla still well away from the Gaza shore. Israel had declared it would not allow the ships to reach Gaza.

On Sunday, Huwaida Arraf, one of the organizers, said the six-ship flotilla began the journey from international waters off the coast of Cyprus on Sunday afternoon after two days of delays. She said they expected to reach Gaza, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) away, on Monday afternoon, and that two more ships would follow in "a second wave."

The flotilla was "fully prepared for the different scenarios" that might arise, and organizers were hopeful that Israeli authorities would "do what's right" and not stop the convoy, she said.

"We fully intend to go to Gaza regardless of any intimidation or threats of violence against us," she said. "They are going to have to forcefully stop us."

After nightfall Sunday, three Israeli navy missile boats left their base in Haifa, steaming out to sea to confront the activists' ships.

Two hours later, Israel Radio broadcast a recording of one of the missile boats warning the flotilla not to approach Gaza.

"If you ignore this order and enter the blockaded area, the Israeli navy will be forced to take all the necessary measures in order to enforce this blockade," the radio message continued.

The al-Jazeera satellite channel reported that the ships changed course to try to avoid a nighttime confrontation, preferring a daylight showdown for better publicity.

The flotilla, which includes three cargo ships and three passenger ships, is trying to draw attention to Israel's three-year blockade of the Gaza Strip. The boats are carrying items that Israel bars from reaching Gaza, like cement and other building materials. The activists said they also were carrying hundreds of electric-powered wheelchairs, prefabricated homes and water purifiers.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that after a security check, permitted humanitarian aid confiscated from the boats will be transferred to Gaza through authorized channels. However, Israel would not transfer items it has banned from Gaza under its blockade rules. Palmor said that for example, cement would be allowed only if it is tied to a specific project.

This is the ninth time that the Free Gaza movement has tried to ship in humanitarian aid to Gaza since August 2008.

Israel has let ships through five times, but has blocked them from entering Gaza waters since a three-week military offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers in January 2009. The flotilla bound for Gaza is the largest to date.

Some 700 pro-Palestinian activists are on the boats, including 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, European legislators and an elderly Holocaust survivor.

The mission has experienced repeated delays, both due to mechanical problems and a decision by Cyprus to bar any boat from sailing from its shore to Gaza. The ban forced a group of European lawmakers to depart from the breakaway Turkish Cypriot northern part of the island late Saturday.

Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade on Gaza after Hama

Comment by Localtarian on May 31, 2010 at 12:26am

Really? who attacks an aid ship and kills the people aboard it?..... Oh yeah, that's right.. Israel does....

Comment by truth on May 31, 2010 at 12:16am

At least two dead and dozens wounded in clashes as the Israeli navy boards the protest flotilla, according to Turkish media.

Hundreds of Israelis commandos boarded the ships at once, firing guns and employing gas, according to an Al-Jazeera report.

Prime Minister Haniyeh of Hamas came on Al-Jazeera to condemn the “brutal attack” and call on the UN to intervene on the activists behalf.

Apparently, IDF attempts to prevent broadcasting from the ships were unable to block the Turkish camera crew on board one of the ships.


The flotilla's change of course earlier in the night to force the confrontation with the navy to occur in daylight, seems to have succeeded.


Earlier tonight, the IDF contacted the boats by radio, clarified that the Gaza Strip is a closed military zone and offered the sailors two options: to follow the navy to Ashdod Port or be commandeered by commandos, according to flotilla organizers.

The initial contact took place about 200 km. off the Gaza Coast. Flotilla organizers said they detected three Israel Navy ships on the radar.

[link to www.jpost.com]