Demonstrations are taking place all over the world against the Israeli actions against the Freedom Flotilla in international waters where many people were killed and injured.
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Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin reports from Jerusalem on the storming of the flotilla and its aftermath
The UN Security Council has condemned acts leading to the deaths of civilians during Monday's Israeli attack on a humanitarian aid convoy that was headed to the Gaza Strip.
In a formal statement adopted after more than 10 hours of closed-door negotiations, the council requested the immediate release of ships and civilians held by Israel and called for an impartial investigation.
Prior to the emergency session, almost all the 15 members of the council deplored the attack that left at least 10 activists on board the Freedom Flotilla dead and dozens injured.
"It is clearer than ever that Israel's restrictions on access to Gaza must be lifted in line with Security Council Resolution 1860," Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador, said on Tuesday.
"The current closure is unacceptable and counterproductive," Grant said.
France, Russia and China also called for the blockade to be lifted and for an independent inquiry.
The United States, Israel's traditional ally, did not request specifically that Israel end its blockade on the Gaza Strip. But it hinted that the measure at least should be eased.
Alejandro Wolff, US deputy permanent representative, said that Washington was "deeply disturbed by recent violence and regrets tragic loss of life and injuries".
Meanwhile the EU and Russia have issued a joint condemnation of Israel's use of deadly force in the operation, and urged the opening of crossings in Gaza.
Speaking during a Russia-EU summit, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister and Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief demanded an end to the blockade of Gaza.
Their joint declaration added: "The EU and Russia call for immediate opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and people to and from Gaza."
The EU's president, Herman Van Rompuy, called for a "durable solution" for the situation in Gaza. "We regret the loss of life, condemn the use of violence and demand an immediate, full and impartial investigation," he said.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, said that the civilian deaths were "irreparable and aboslutely unjustified."
Meanwhile, Egypt opened its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip letting Palestinians cross until further notice.
Palestinian TV said that Mahmood Abbas, the president, phoned Hosni Mubarak, his Egyptian counter-part, to thank him for "responding to the massacre" by opening the post.
Deadly raid
The statements reflected the international community's strong disapprovalof Monday's events in the high seas, when Israeli soldiers stormed the six ships in international waters about 65km off the Gaza coast.
The ships with about 700 pro-Palestinian activists were carrying 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid for Gaza, the coastal territory under a crippling Israeli siege.
Israel insisted that its troops had acted in self-defence after being attacked by those onboard.
But Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal, onboard the lead ship Mavi Marmara, said troops opened fire even after passengers had raised a white flag.
Israeli troops have taken the ships to the port of Ashdod after seizing them.
Activists who were injured are being treated in hospitals while 480 others are been detained and subjected to interrogations. Another 48 activists have been deported to their respective countries.
Al Jazeera's Elshayyal is reportedly being held at a detention facility at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport, together with two of his colleagues.
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Ashdod, said: "We are still trying to get information in terms of the condition of the passengers...
"An identification and interrogation process has gotten under way, to identify the individuals and then provide them with the option of being deported immediately or sent to prison here," he said.
Global outrage
Freedom Flotilla has incensed people, triggering mass protestsin cities across the world.
Thousands marched in the streets of Istanbul, London and Amman in Jordan among other cities on Monday, denouncing the deadly raid on the ships that sought to deliver much-needed supplies to Gazans.
But Israel has remained defiant with Mark Regev, its government spokesman, insisting that "Israel was totally within its rights under international law to intercept the ship and to take it to the port of Ashdod".
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."
Reporting from Jerusalem, Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland said Israel's reaction has largely been of defiance.
"Many [Israeli citizens] have flocked to the port of Ashdod to basically express their rejection of what they see as the foreign media's negative spin on events.
"...Israeli spin masters have been going into overdrive, doing their best possible to spin this event as though the Israeli commandos were not the ones attacking but rather the attack was perpetrated by people on board," she said.
Israeli 'cover-up'
But Israeli efforts notwithstanding, the country has come in for strong censure.
Murat Mercan, the head of Turkey's foreign relations committee, said 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 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?"
Mark Taylor, an international legal expert, told Al Jazeera that every state, including Israel, has the right to self-defence.
"In this case, we're looking at a humanitarian aid convoy, with prominent people and activists, clearly not a military target in any way whatsoever."
Israeli media reported that many of the dead were Turkish nationals.
Hamas, the Palestinian group which governs the Gaza Strip, said the assault was a "massacre" and called on the international community to intervene.
The Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, urged Arabs and Muslims to show their anger by staging protests outside Israeli embassies across the globe.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
14:23 Mecca time, 11:23 GMT
Global rallies continue over Israel
Protests took place in Sydney as the Australian prime minister condemned the attack
Activists around the world are continuing to protest Israel's deadly action against a convoy of aid ships headed to Gaza that killed at least 10 people.
Thousands of people took to the streets in several Indonesian cities on Tuesday, waving banners and flags condemning Israel for its attack on the so-called Freedom Flotilla.
In Turkey protesters launched a second day of demonstrations, with people gathering outside the Israeli embassy in Ankara, the capital.
The city of Istanbul saw angry scenes a day earlier, as 10,000 people marched on the streets over the action, which Turkish nationals are believed to have been caught up in.
Protesters also took to the streets in Malaysia and Australia, which added its voice on Tuesday to worldwide condemnation of the violence.
"The Australian government condemns any use of violence under the sorts of circumstances that we have seen," Kevin Rudd, the Australian prime minister, said.
More protests were scheduled in Europe later on Tuesday.
Turkish anger
Turkey has called for a strong international response to Monday's raid.
In a speech to legislators on Tuesday, the country's prime minister said Israel should be "punished" for its "bloody massacre" on the flotilla, and warned that no one should test Turkey's patience.
"It is no longer possible to cover up or ignore Israel's lawlessness. The international community must from now on say 'enough is enough'," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
"Dry statements of condemnation are not enough ... There should be results."
He said the Israeli action was an attack "on international law, the conscience of humanity and world peace".
Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Istanbul, said Erdogan's speech was "extraordinarily strong".
She said he "mentioned the unmentionable, saying that Israel acts because it has powerful friends".
Ergodan said he would be speaking to Barack Obama, the US president, later in the day.
Monday's raid has dramatically escalated tensions between Turkey and Israel, with Ankara's ruling AK Party saying ties will never be the same.
The country has recalled its ambassador to Israel and cancelled three joint military exercises with Israel and sent three planes to Israel to bring back around 20 of its nationals wounded during the violence.
Gaza assistance
Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Council is preparing to debate Israel's raid on the flotilla, at the request of Arab and Islamic states.
A draft resolution sponsored by Pakistan and Sudan alongside the Palestinians "condemns in the strongest terms possible the outrageous attack by the Israeli forces" and says independent investigators should be sent to review possible violations of international law related to the incident.
The non-binding resolution also calls on Israel to ensure that food, fuel and medical assistance reaches the Gaza Strip.
Claire Kaplun, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based Council, said the discussion would start at 1300 GMT and last three hours.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Israel holds 480 activists
Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:06
South African Press Association
Israel has detained 480 pro-Palestinian activists captured in its deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and will expel 48 others, public radio reported Tuesday.
Those detained were being held at the southern Israeli prison of Ashdod, while the other 48 were being taken to Ben Gurion international airport to be sent back to their home countries, said the report.
Israeli officials would question the detainees before deciding whether to free them or prosecute them.
Another 45 activists, most of them Turkish, were being treated in various hospitals.
At least nine people were killed during the Israeli operation to take control of the boats, most of them believed to be Turkish nationals.
Israeli navy commandos stormed a Gaza-bound aid boat Monday in a pre-dawn raid that has sparked global outrage.
But the Israeli Defence Forces has blamed activists on the ship for creating the confrontation by attacking its soldiers as they boarded the vessel.
The bloody end to the operation prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut short a visit to Canada and postpone a trip to Washington where he had been due to meet with US President Barack Obama Tuesday.
IDF used 'electroshock'
Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:42
A Greek activist told on Tuesday of the moment Israeli troops stormed the ill-fated Gaza-bound aid flotilla, using rubber bullets, tear gas and electroshock weapons to subdue those aboard.
"Israeli troops jumped onto the boat around 5.30am on Monday," Michalis Grigoropoulos said of the pre-dawn raid by Israeli forces in international waters that killed nine activists and sparked global outrage.
'...then used electroshock weapons'
Grigoropoulos was aboard the Eleftheri Mesogeio, smaller than the lead boat, the Mavi Marmara, which Israeli troops had attacked earlier.
"They fired rubber coated bullets, tear gas and then used electroshock weapons on some activists," he told Skai television shortly after Israel deported him and five compatriots to Athens.
"An hour beforehand, at 4.30am local time, we heard gunfire on the Turkish boat Mavi Marmara, the Israelis jumped from helicopters onto the boat," he said.
Israel is still holding hundreds of the 686 passengers they seized and took back to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where Grigoropoulos said he was kept incommunicado, denied access to a lawyer and made to sign papers he did not understand.
Detention conditions 'wretched'
Grigoropoulos criticised "the wretched detention conditions at Ashdod (where) 500 people were packed in together" saying that "two Greek activists were beaten up" there by Israeli police.
"They made me sign papers on my expulsion, without me knowing what was on the papers because I did not have the right to a translator, a lawyer or to communicate with my family," he said.
The Eleftheri Mesogeio's captain, Zaharias Stilianakis, who was among those returned to Athens, said that "after their assault on the boat, the commandos cut all means of communication."
Around 30 pro-Palestinian Greek activists from the flotilla are still being held in Israel.
Activists who have refused to identify themselves have been taken to an Israeli prison.
Israel has accused activists on the biggest ship in the flotilla of having provoked the confrontation by attacking its soldiers as they boarded the vessel.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
12:24 Mecca time, 09:24 GMT
Two Palestinians killed in Gaza
Israeli soldiers also fired shells into the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses
Israeli soldiers have shot and killed two Palestinians near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers on Tuesday "identified two infiltrators" and killed both of them following an exchange of fire.
Witnesses in Gaza said Israeli forces also fired shells, hitting agricultural land. The military spokeswoman, however, said she was unaware of the shelling.
The incident came a day after Israeli troops violently intercepted a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid, killing at least 10 pro-Palestinian activists on board.
Overnight, the Israeli military reported the firing of a projectile from Gaza into the western Negev, with no injuries reported.
The Al-Aqsa Brigades, a Palestinian armed group, claimed the launch of the projectile.
In a statement the brigades said they worked in conjunction with the Imad Mughniyeh Brigades, another armed group, to fire two homemade projectiles eastward from the Strip, and a third towards the Kissufim military base.
The statement said the fire was a "response to the Israeli crimes against the Freedom Flotilla".
Source: Agencies
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