SuN
.:~**~.~**~.~**~:.
These savages are killing people here - please help
ASHDOD: Israeli naval commandos can be seen rappelling down from helicopters then pointing assault rifles in some of the dramatic footage of the pre-dawn raid on the high seas.
Israel says the troops returned fire after they were attacked with live rounds, knives and clubs, but the organisers of the Gaza blockade-busting bid insist the soldiers started shooting the moment they hit the deck.
"They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep," the Free Gaza Movement said.
Only limited footage of the incident has been broadcast as communications with the six ships participating in the flotilla appeared to have been scrambled during the operation.
Four soldiers were reported to have been wounded.
In images posted on the internet and broadcast on several television stations, including the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera network, bandaged men can be seen lying on stretchers in the shaky images that show complete chaos aboard what appears to be the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara. An Al-Jazeera correspondent on board the ship said the Israeli soldiers continued shooting even though a white flag of surrender had been raised.
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He said hundreds of Israeli troops attacked the ships and that the captain was among those wounded.
Indications are that most if not all of those killed were aboard the Marmara, which carried most of more than 700 pro-Palestinian activists who hoped to make their way towards the Gaza Strip.
Military chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi said the situation aboard the large ferry, owned by the IHH Islamic charity, was different from that on the other five ships.
"There was extreme violence from the moment that our forces reached the ship, it was premeditated and included weapons, iron bars, knives and at a certain stage firearms, perhaps in some cases weapons that were snatched from soldiers," Lieutenant General Ashkenazi said.
An Israeli commando who spoke to reporters on a naval vessel off the coast, and who was identified only by the first letter of his name, "A", said he and his comrades were surprised by a group of Arabic-speaking men when they rapelled on to the deck.
He said some of the soldiers, taken off guard, were stripped of their helmets and equipment and thrown from the top deck to the lower deck, and that some had even jumped overboard to save themselves. At one point, one of the passengers seized one of the soldiers' weapons and opened fire.
A high-ranking naval official displayed a box confiscated from the boat containing switchblades, slingshots, metal balls and metal bats. "We prepared (the soldiers) to deal with peace activists, not to fight," he said.
Turkey's NTV showed activists beating one Israeli soldier with sticks as he rappelled from a helicopter on to one of the boats.
"These savages are killing people here -- please help," a Turkish television reporter said.
The broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!"
A Greek vessel was among those that came under attack.
"There was an attack with live bullets against the Greek boat Sfendoni and the Turkish boat Mavi Marmara, with helicopters and inflatable boats," a Greek non-governmental organisation said in a statement.
Greta Berlin said the last message received before the raid said: "All is calm, the Israeli warships are on our bow, let's sleep."
A message posted on Twitter by the pro-Palestinian activists said the Israeli military had made contact. "Intervention is imminent," a message from aboard the Challenger 1 passenger vessel said.
Next came news from the Mavi Marmara that two people were killed.
Later reports indicated 19 activists had died.
The Sfendoni and another ship could be seen being towed under military escort to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where authorities have set up facilities to process the detained activists. As the first ships arrived in port, about 100 Israeli activists gathered on an adjacent beach protesting the blockade Israel has imposed since the 2007 power grab in Gaza by Hamas, an Islamist movement committed to the destruction of the Jewish state.
AFP
ISRAELI commandos yesterday stormed in international waters a flotilla attempting to break the Gaza Strip blockade, killing at least 19 activists, most of them Turks.
The bloody ending to the mission to deliver supplies on six boats to the besieged Palestinian enclave plunged Israel into a diplomatic crisis, forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off a White House meeting with US President Barack Obama.
As Turkey recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv, Israeli authorities went on alert last night in anticipation of an outbreak of unrest. Jerusalem's Old City was locked down and Gaza was sealed off from the media.
Police were also on alert in northern Israel after it was reported an Islamic leader from that part of the country was one of those killed on the flotilla.
The 36 wounded activists and four wounded troops were flown by Israeli helicopters from the boats to hospitals around Israel, many to the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.
Australian journalists Paul McGeough and Kate Geraghty, who were filing for the Fairfax press from the flotilla, were last night being held in an Israeli detention centre. They were likely to be deported.
Scores of naval commandos stormed the six boats at about 5am (12pm AEDT), 62km out at sea, after warning them they were approaching an area of hostilities that was under a naval blockade.
Israel pointed the finger of blame at the activists, accusing them of initiating the bloodshed when they attacked a naval boarding force with live fire, knives and clubs on one of the six ships.
Israel's military top brass said the violence had been limited to the Turkish passenger boat, the Mavi Marmara, with navy chief Admiral Eliezer Marom saying his troops "had acted with extreme restraint" in a very dangerous situation. He said the five other boats co-operated peacefully.
A spokesman for Mr Netanyahu, Mark Regev, also blamed the activists.
"They initiated the violence," he said. "They wanted violence, they wanted a headline, they wanted their time on CNN.
"We made every possible effort to avoid this incident. The servicemen were given instructions that it was to be a police operation and to use maximum restraint.
"Unfortunately, they were attacked with deadly force by the people on the boats, with iron bars, knives and live fire.
"I can confirm that was the case where weapons were taken forcibly from our servicemen and used against them."
Israel radio broadcast the message that it said was sent by the Israeli navy to the Turkish ship leading the convoy: "You are approaching an area of hostilities, which is under a naval blockade. Gaza coastal area and Gaza Harbour are closed to maritime traffic.
"The Israeli government supports delivery of humanitarian supplies to the civilian population in Gaza Strip and invites you to enter Ashdod port. Delivery of supplies will be through the formal land crossing to Gaza and under your observation, after which you can return to your home ports."
They said the reply from the ship was: "Negative, negative. Our destination is Gaza."
There were an estimated 700 people people on the boats - of the original nine that left Cyprus on Sunday three pulled out because of mechanical problems.
They were taking 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid - including medical supplies - to Gaza.
Israel has had a blockade on the Gaza Strip since Hamas took power three years ago.
Before the confrontation Israel had said it was prepared to deliver the cargo, but organisers said this was not possible as it contained many products that Israel had banned. Israel has also sealed off all border crossings it shares with Gaza, while Egypt sealed off its southern border with the Hamas-controlled territory.
The confrontation sent already-poor relations between Israel and Turkey into a new crisis as Ankara warned Israel of "irreparable consequences" to bilateral ties. Turkey last night summoned the Israeli ambassador to Ankara to lodge a formal protest and a crowd tried to storm the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. Israel immediately closed Gaza to journalists.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas labelled the assault a "massacre" and declared three days of mourning.
ASHDOD: Israeli naval commandos can be seen rappelling down from helicopters then pointing assault rifles in some of the dramatic footage of the pre-dawn raid on the high seas.
Israel says the troops returned fire after they were attacked with live rounds, knives and clubs, but the organisers of the Gaza blockade-busting bid insist the soldiers started shooting the moment they hit the deck.
"They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep," the Free Gaza Movement said.
Only limited footage of the incident has been broadcast as communications with the six ships participating in the flotilla appeared to have been scrambled during the operation.
Four soldiers were reported to have been wounded.
In images posted on the internet and broadcast on several television stations, including the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera network, bandaged men can be seen lying on stretchers in the shaky images that show complete chaos aboard what appears to be the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara. An Al-Jazeera correspondent on board the ship said the Israeli soldiers continued shooting even though a white flag of surrender had been raised.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
He said hundreds of Israeli troops attacked the ships and that the captain was among those wounded.
Indications are that most if not all of those killed were aboard the Marmara, which carried most of more than 700 pro-Palestinian activists who hoped to make their way towards the Gaza Strip.
Military chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi said the situation aboard the large ferry, owned by the IHH Islamic charity, was different from that on the other five ships.
"There was extreme violence from the moment that our forces reached the ship, it was premeditated and included weapons, iron bars, knives and at a certain stage firearms, perhaps in some cases weapons that were snatched from soldiers," Lieutenant General Ashkenazi said.
An Israeli commando who spoke to reporters on a naval vessel off the coast, and who was identified only by the first letter of his name, "A", said he and his comrades were surprised by a group of Arabic-speaking men when they rapelled on to the deck.
He said some of the soldiers, taken off guard, were stripped of their helmets and equipment and thrown from the top deck to the lower deck, and that some had even jumped overboard to save themselves. At one point, one of the passengers seized one of the soldiers' weapons and opened fire.
A high-ranking naval official displayed a box confiscated from the boat containing switchblades, slingshots, metal balls and metal bats. "We prepared (the soldiers) to deal with peace activists, not to fight," he said.
Turkey's NTV showed activists beating one Israeli soldier with sticks as he rappelled from a helicopter on to one of the boats.
"These savages are killing people here -- please help," a Turkish television reporter said.
The broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!"
A Greek vessel was among those that came under attack.
"There was an attack with live bullets against the Greek boat Sfendoni and the Turkish boat Mavi Marmara, with helicopters and inflatable boats," a Greek non-governmental organisation said in a statement.
Greta Berlin said the last message received before the raid said: "All is calm, the Israeli warships are on our bow, let's sleep."
A message posted on Twitter by the pro-Palestinian activists said the Israeli military had made contact. "Intervention is imminent," a message from aboard the Challenger 1 passenger vessel said.
Next came news from the Mavi Marmara that two people were killed.
Later reports indicated 19 activists had died.
The Sfendoni and another ship could be seen being towed under military escort to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where authorities have set up facilities to process the detained activists. As the first ships arrived in port, about 100 Israeli activists gathered on an adjacent beach protesting the blockade Israel has imposed since the 2007 power grab in Gaza by Hamas, an Islamist movement committed to the destruction of the Jewish state.
AFP
ISRAELI commandos yesterday stormed in international waters a flotilla attempting to break the Gaza Strip blockade, killing at least 19 activists, most of them Turks.
The bloody ending to the mission to deliver supplies on six boats to the besieged Palestinian enclave plunged Israel into a diplomatic crisis, forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off a White House meeting with US President Barack Obama.
As Turkey recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv, Israeli authorities went on alert last night in anticipation of an outbreak of unrest. Jerusalem's Old City was locked down and Gaza was sealed off from the media.
Police were also on alert in northern Israel after it was reported an Islamic leader from that part of the country was one of those killed on the flotilla.
The 36 wounded activists and four wounded troops were flown by Israeli helicopters from the boats to hospitals around Israel, many to the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.
Australian journalists Paul McGeough and Kate Geraghty, who were filing for the Fairfax press from the flotilla, were last night being held in an Israeli detention centre. They were likely to be deported.
Scores of naval commandos stormed the six boats at about 5am (12pm AEDT), 62km out at sea, after warning them they were approaching an area of hostilities that was under a naval blockade.
Israel pointed the finger of blame at the activists, accusing them of initiating the bloodshed when they attacked a naval boarding force with live fire, knives and clubs on one of the six ships.
Israel's military top brass said the violence had been limited to the Turkish passenger boat, the Mavi Marmara, with navy chief Admiral Eliezer Marom saying his troops "had acted with extreme restraint" in a very dangerous situation. He said the five other boats co-operated peacefully.
A spokesman for Mr Netanyahu, Mark Regev, also blamed the activists.
"They initiated the violence," he said. "They wanted violence, they wanted a headline, they wanted their time on CNN.
"We made every possible effort to avoid this incident. The servicemen were given instructions that it was to be a police operation and to use maximum restraint.
"Unfortunately, they were attacked with deadly force by the people on the boats, with iron bars, knives and live fire.
"I can confirm that was the case where weapons were taken forcibly from our servicemen and used against them."
Israel radio broadcast the message that it said was sent by the Israeli navy to the Turkish ship leading the convoy: "You are approaching an area of hostilities, which is under a naval blockade. Gaza coastal area and Gaza Harbour are closed to maritime traffic.
"The Israeli government supports delivery of humanitarian supplies to the civilian population in Gaza Strip and invites you to enter Ashdod port. Delivery of supplies will be through the formal land crossing to Gaza and under your observation, after which you can return to your home ports."
They said the reply from the ship was: "Negative, negative. Our destination is Gaza."
There were an estimated 700 people people on the boats - of the original nine that left Cyprus on Sunday three pulled out because of mechanical problems.
They were taking 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid - including medical supplies - to Gaza.
Israel has had a blockade on the Gaza Strip since Hamas took power three years ago.
Before the confrontation Israel had said it was prepared to deliver the cargo, but organisers said this was not possible as it contained many products that Israel had banned. Israel has also sealed off all border crossings it shares with Gaza, while Egypt sealed off its southern border with the Hamas-controlled territory.
The confrontation sent already-poor relations between Israel and Turkey into a new crisis as Ankara warned Israel of "irreparable consequences" to bilateral ties. Turkey last night summoned the Israeli ambassador to Ankara to lodge a formal protest and a crowd tried to storm the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. Israel immediately closed Gaza to journalists.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas labelled the assault a "massacre" and declared three days of mourning.
