(Reuters) – A total of nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed aboard a Gaza-bound aid ship that was raided by Israeli naval commandos on Monday, the Israeli military said in a statement. A military spokeswoman said the statement reflected the final death toll for the day after the ship was brought to the Israeli port city of Ashdod. Earlier, senior Israeli officials had put the number of those killed at ten, or even higher.
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Israel, which leads a blockade on the Gaza Strip, intercepted the convoy of six ships carrying 700 people and 10,000 tons of supplies to prevent it from reaching the shores of the Hamas-ruled territory.
The military said that violence erupted on one of the ships after the activists attacked the marines, wounding seven and stealing two of their weapons.
Israeli officials have said about 20 activists were injured.
The military did not give the nationality of any of the casualties, but a senior Israeli official said most of the dead were Turks.
(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Friendly Turkish PM says Allah will punish Israel
Jerusalem, Jan 5 (ANI): Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used exceptionally harsh words to describe Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, despite both countries enjoying good bilateral ties.
Speaking in Antalya following his Middle Eastern tour, Erdogan said Israel was perpetrating “inhumane actions” which would “bring it to destroy itself,” The Jerusalem Post reported.
“Allah will sooner or later punish those who transgress the rights of innocents,” Erdogan said.
His recent tour of the Middle East conspicuously skipped Israel, despite the good bilateral ties enjoyed by both countries.
Erdogan has over the past week visited Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia as Turkey engaged in shuttle diplomacy with Arab countries in the search for a cease-fire in the Middle East.
The Turkish leader has made extremely critical comments about Operation Cast Lead since it began, and last Saturday characterized Israel’s aerial attacks in Gaza as a “crime against humanity.”
Israel has expressed its reservations to the Turks over these comments, with officials in Jerusalem saying it was not the way friendly countries talked about one another, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Still, the overall assessment in Jerusalem is that the operation and the tenor of Erdogan’s criticism will not have a lasting impact on Turkish-Israel relations, since strong ties are in the interest of both countries. (ANI)