Israeli Commandos Storm Turkish Ships Bound for Gaza – Photo Essays

Israeli Commandos Storm Turkish Ships Bound for Gaza












Passengers
Turkish and International activists, wearing life jackets, gather onboard the Mavi Marmara. The flotilla was meant to bring international attention to Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Stip.



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Worldwide Protests Follow Israeli Terror on Aid Ship

Worldwide Protests Follow Israeli Terror on Aid Ship

Israeli MP’s Terror on Aid Ship: ‘Plan Was to Kill Activists’

Picture from CBSNews.Com

By Jonathan Cook – Nazareth

An Arab member of the Israeli parliament who was on board the international flotilla that was attacked on Monday as it tried to take humanitarian aid to Gaza accused Israel yesterday of intending to kill peace activists as a way to deter future convoys.

Haneen Zoubi said Israeli naval vessels had surrounded the flotilla’s flagship, the Mavi Marmara, and fired on it a few minutes before commandos abseiled from a helicopter directly above them.

Terrified passengers had been forced off the deck when water was sprayed at them. She said she was not aware of any provocation or resistance by the passengers, who were all unarmed.

She added that within minutes of the raid beginning, three bodies had been brought to the main room on the upper deck in which she and most other passengers were confined. Two had gunshot wounds to the head, in what she suggested had been executions.

Two other passengers slowly bled to death in the room after Israeli soldiers ignored messages in Hebrew she had held up at the window calling for medical help to save them. She said she saw seven other passengers seriously wounded.

“Israel had days to plan this military operation,” she told a press conference in Nazareth. “They wanted many deaths to terrorise us and to send a message that no future aid convoys should try to break the siege of Gaza.”

Dr. Hasan Nowarah: “19 Activists Killed Not 9″

Freed Free Gaza Activist, Dr. Hasan Nowarah, Justice for Palestine Center in Glasgow: First Hand Witness Account of Israeli Attack and Raid on Flotilla / Turkish Marmara Ship
An activist caught up in the storming of the Gaza aid flotilla by Israeli soldiers has described the attack after arriving home in Scotland.

Last updated 2 Jun 2010 – 3:15 pm
Glasgow resident Hasan Nowarah was one of at least four Scots with the convoy when it was taken by commandos. Theresa McDermott, from Edinburgh, Hassan Ghani, from Glasgow, and Ali El-Awaisi, from Dundee, were also onboard.

Mr Nowarah, chairman of the Justice for Palestine Centre in Glasgow, was deported from Israel on Tuesday night after the flotilla was intercepted. He flew into London and then made his way home to Glasgow.



He said Israeli ships surrounded the convoy on Saturday night before the attack, playing “cat and mouse games” with the Mavi Marmara ship. He said: “The warships and their zodiacs were approaching us slowly, slowly, but no confrontation. They were communicating with our captains through the radios, warning us to turn back. But we explained to them we are in the international water. We are not attacking Israel, we are humanitarian aid, we are sailing to Gaza.”

Mr Nowarah then saw Israeli soldiers storm the Mavi Marmara ship before they boarded the ship he was on.

Gaza Activists Claim “Brutal” Israeli Raid

(CBS/AP) Activists returning to Europe after Israeli forces raided their aid flotilla said Tuesday that the commandos had beaten passengers and used electric shocks during the assault.

Six Greeks and several others, including a Turkish woman and her 1-year-old baby, were released Tuesday, but Israel has barred access to hundreds of others seized during the raid that killed at least nine people and wounded dozens early Monday.

CBS News correspondent Robert Berger in Jerusalem reports that about 600 activists and aid workers were arrested after the flotilla was escorted to the Israeli port of Ashdod following the raids, which took place in international waters. About two thirds of those aboard the aid ships were Turkish.

Turkey’s prime minister on Tuesday called the raid a “bloody massacre,” and warned that no one should test Turkey’s patience.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Turkish lawmakers “this bloody massacre by Israel on ships that were taking humanitarian aid to Gaza deserves every kind of curse.”

Most of those killed were aboard the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, and there have been conflicting accounts of what happened during the assault.

Israel said the activists attacked its commandos as they boarded the six ships taking tons of supplies to Gaza, while the flotilla’s organizers said the Israeli forces opened fire first. CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reports that Israel claims the first five ships were boarded without incident, and the battle came on the sixth.

Sukarelawan Gaza Mengaku Disetrum

INILAH.COM, London – Serdadu Israel mengklaim mereka hanya membela diri. Namun saksi mata tak mendukung cerita tersebut dan mengaku disetrum serta dipukuli selama kejadian berlangsung.

Salah satu saksi mata, Norman Paech menuturkan apa yang ia saksikan. Mantan politisi Jerman ini berada di atas Mavi Marmara ketika kejadian. Menurut Paech, waktu kejadian adalah pukul 04.30, Senin (31/5) waktu setempat. “Tak lama setelah kejadian, kami mendengar ledakan dan serdadu dari heli turun ke kapal kami,” paparnya.

Paech berkata semua serdadu mengenakan masker, membawa senjata besar dan sangat brutal. Ia hanya melihat tiga aktivis memberi perlawanan dengan tongkat, itupun hanya untuk mempertahankan diri. “Tak tahu lagi jika di bagian lain kapal ada yang menggunakan senjata,” tuturnya.

Sementara Dmitris Gielalis, aktivis Yunani yang naik kapal lainnya juga mengatakan hal serupa. “Dalam beberapa detik, serdadu sudah memenuhi kapal. Mereka menggunakan peluru plastik, kami dipukuli dan disetrum. Mereka menggunakan semua metode yang bisa kami pikirkan. Tentunya, kami tak bersiap menghadapi situasi perang,” ulasnya.