Turkish hospital where survivors of the May 31 Israeli massacre against Freedom Flotilla were being treated. Nine people have been reported killed.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
05:09 Mecca time, 02:09 GMT
Turkish aid activists arrive home
Several activists wounded in Monday's Israeli raid were transferred to hospital in Ankara
Three planes carrying activists from the Gaza aid flotilla stormed by Israel earlier this week have arrived in Istanbul.
The flights carrying hundreds of activists, including some who were injured in the Israeli raid, landed early on Thursday.
The bodies of nine people killed in the raid were also reported to have been on board.
At least four of the dead are believed to have been Turkish citizens.
Earlier three air ambulances landed at a military base in Anakara, the Turkish capital, carrying wounded activists who were transferred to hospitals in the city.
Hundreds of supporters including Turkey's deputy prime minister, Bulent Arinc, and several Turkish politicians, were at the airport in Istanbul to welcome the returning activists.
Many waved Turkish and Palestinian flags and shouted anti-Israeli slogans.
"They faced barbarism and oppression but returned with pride," Arinc told hundreds of jubilant relatives and supporters outside the airport, chanting "God is Great!"
A crowd of several thousand also gathered in central Istanbul to celebrate the activists' return.
Officials in Israel said earlier that they had released about 700 activists seized from the Gaza aid flotilla and sent them for deportation.
More than 100 of the activists, mostly from Arab countries, were driven by buses across the Allenby Bridge into Jordan on Wednesday.
But Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said that four Palestinian-Israelis remain in prison.
Israel defiant
Israel has remained defiant about the raid and says it is ready to intercept another aid ship, the Rachel Corrie, that organisers of the Freedom Flotilla say is due to head for the Gaza Strip next week.
Accusing international critics of "hypocrisy," Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, defended the seizure of the aid ships on Wednesday.
"This was not the 'Love Boat,'" Netanyahu said in a televised address to the nation, referring to the vessel boarded by commandos. "It was a hate boat."
"These weren't pacifists, these weren't peace activists, they were violent supporters of terrorism," he said.
Netanyahu said the aim of the flotilla was to break the blockade of Gaza, not to bring aid.
He said that if the blockade ended ships, would bring in thousands of missiles from Iran to be aimed at Israel and beyond, creating what he said would be an Iranian port on the Mediterranean.
"The same countries that are criticising us today should know that they would be targeted tomorrow," Netanyahu said.
Our correspondent in Jerusalem said the address did not include mention of a probe into the incident, as many have demanded.
"If the international community or the Turkish government were waiting to hear Binyamin Netanyahu announce an independent investigation to look into this deadly raid, it certainly did not come as expected, or as the international community and the UN Security Council had demanded," Mohyeldin said.
"Instead the Israeli prime minister once again defended the Israeli course of action."
Netanyahu's comments came hours after Turkey warned it would cut off diplomatic ties with Israel if its citizens killed and injured in the Gaza flotilla raid were not returned by Wednesday night.
Legal action considered
Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, also called for an international commission into the raid on the convoy of six ships, which reportedly killed at least four Turkish nationals.
"We have clearly stated that we would review our ties with Israel if all Turks not released by the end of the day," Davutoglu told a news conference on Wednesday.
Turkey sent three planes to retrieve hundreds of activists detained following Monday's raid in international waters, which left nine people dead.
Davutoglu added Turkey was ready to normalise ties with Israel if it lifted its blockade on Gaza, saying "it was time calm replaces anger".
Relations between Turkey and Israel deteriorated rapidly following the deadly raid, with most of the bloodshed occurring on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish-flagged ship carrying hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists.
State media reported on Wednesday that Turkey's justice ministry is considering legal action against Israel.
Officials are looking into both domestic and international law to see what action might be undertaken after Monday's operation in international waters, a report by the Anatolia news agency said.
Thousands of Turks staged two days of protests across the country denouncing the action.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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