- Title: ISRAEL: Injured from Gaza aid flotilla arrive at hospital
- Date: 1st June 2010
- Summary: ASHDOD, ISRAEL (MAY 31, 2010) (REUTERS) SHIPS SAILING AT SEA ASHDOD PORT WITH SHIP AT SEA (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI ARMY SPOKESWOMAN AVITAL LEIBOVITZ SAYING; "It was a lynch in our soldiers, it was pre-planned, these passengers had with them sharp metal items, they had with them different kind of weapons, live fire was used against our forces as well as sharp items
- Embargoed: 16th June 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA5XXN7YTUXUZX7FR6DW0CXJIFC
- Story Text: Israeli commandos intercepted Gaza-bound aid ships on Monday (May 31) and at least 10 activists on board were killed in violence that threatened to plunge Israel into an international diplomatic crisis.
Israel's military, which had prepared air conditioned tents in an Israeli port for detainees in an operation that had been widely expected in Israel to end without bloodshed, said troops came under gunfire and knife attack during the takeover.
"It was a lynch in our soldiers, it was pre-planned, these passengers had with them sharp metal items, they had with them different kind of weapons, live fire was used against our forces as well as sharp items, knives of different sorts. As a results we are suffering of six soldiers that are injured as well as ten passengers that we know were killed upon these violent activities upon these boats," Israeli Army spokeswoman Avital Leibovitz said.
Israeli hospitals along the coast prepared to receive the injured from the violent confrontations at sea,
"Barzilai Medical Centre has been prepared to treat causalities since the early hours of this morning, we prepared the emergency rooms and operating theatres, the whole hospital is on standby for the treatment, we still don't know how many injured are supposed to arrive and what is their medical condition," Doctor Ron Lobel Deputy Hospital Director of Barzilai Medical Centre said.
A diplomatic furore took shape, especially with long-time Muslim ally Turkey whose flag some of the six ships, carrying aid and foreign activists, were flying.
Israel has said it was absolutely determined to maintain its blockade of the Gaza Strip, a territory of 1.5 million people that is controlled by Hamas Islamists opposed to U.S.-mediated Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Israel's Western allies have been critical of a Gaza embargo that it insists has not led to humanitarian crisis in the impoverished enclave and which it says is aimed at preventing arms supplies from reaching Hamas by sea.
It has previously halted such activist ships, although some others have reached the Gaza Strip before.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah faction lost control of the Gaza Strip in fighting with Hamas in 2007, declared three days of mourning in the Palestinian territories.
Turkey said it "strongly protested" against the military action, calling the interception of the ships unacceptable and cautioning in a statement issued by its Foreign Ministry that "Israel will have to endure the consequences of this behaviour".
The captured ships were sailing toward Israel's southern Mediterranean port of Ashdod, Israeli media said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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