At approximately 2:00 a.m. on May 31, 2010, an elite Israeli unit, the 13th Naval Commando Unit, was aboard a helicopter and airlifted by rope to the Turkish ship Mamara, the largest and command ship of the international rescue flotilla. This is the largest ship in the flotilla and the command ship of the flotilla. Al-Jazeera reported from the scene that the Israeli navy opened fire on the ship and forcibly boarded it, injuring its captain; Al-Jazeera's report ended with the Hebrew phrase "Everybody shut up! interrupted.
A Turkish website posted video of the chaotic scenes as Israeli forces boarded the ship, with a physical confrontation between people in orange life jackets and Israeli soldiers as they forced their way airborne onto the deck, followed by gunfire and a scattering of the ship's occupants, while others tried to revive a fellow passenger on the deck, who was unconscious.
The last words spoken by the ship's personnel before communications were cut off were, "They are boarding the ship with ropes and we are being taken prisoner." An Al Jazeera reporter was on the boat at the time of the incident. The reporter said the volunteers flashed a white flag and that they did not fire live ammunition at the Israeli forces. The Israeli military said the navy's interception operation against the six boats was met with resistance and that "according to the preliminary investigation report, the incident resulted in the death of more than 10 volunteers."
The main sponsor of the event, the Turkish charity IHH, said 15 volunteers died, most of them Turkish. Israel's Channel 10 reported that 19 volunteers died.
IHH said the incident took place in the open sea, some 120 kilometers off the Israeli coast, and that Israel had violated international law.
Israel is now in control of all six ships, blocking the flotilla in international waters more than 100 kilometers from the Gaza Strip and cutting off the flotilla's access to the outside world. The Israeli military said the supplies on board would be confiscated and, after inspection, would be handed over to the Gaza Strip by land by the Israeli side, the newspaper said. Foreign personnel on board will be sent back to their home countries, and those who do not want to be deported to their home countries will be taken into custody.
Several more ships are set to sail to Gaza in the coming days. Organizers say they will not be deterred by Israel's violence.
The relief shipment to Gaza was initiated by the Free Gaza Movement, an international peace organization that stands in solidarity with the Palestinians and opposes Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, and aims to draw international attention to Israel's three-year blockade of the Strip.
The flotilla*** consisted of six ships, three of which were passenger ships and three cargo ships. The cargo ships *** have about 10,000 tons of medical supplies, construction materials, tents, food and other humanitarian relief materials. The people on board came from European and Arab countries, totaling about 750, including 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Briton Merrid Corrigan, several members of the European Parliament and a Holocaust survivor.
This was the ninth attempt since August 2008 by the Free Gaza Movement to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the largest. Israel has allowed the flotilla into Gaza on five occasions, but has stopped allowing supplies into Gaza since January of last year, when Israeli forces launched a three-week military offensive against Hamas in Gaza. The conflict brought the issue of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip to the attention of the international community, which was initiated by Israel and Egypt in June 2007 after Hamas seized control of the Strip. Israel claimed that the blockade was to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons, but the United Nations and international relief organizations agreed that the blockade had failed to weaken Hamas but had destroyed the local economy in Gaza. Israel, however, denies that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying food and medical equipment are allowed into Gaza.
According to Israel, the flotilla's relief supplies included building materials such as cement, which is banned from being imported into Gaza. Israel believes cement can be used by Hamas to construct military installations. Israel says organizer IHH supports "extremist organizations," including Hamas.
The Israeli government regretted the casualties, but said Israeli forces were attacked by boat crews using daggers and iron bars, and that one soldier was robbed of his rifle; according to Israeli rules of engagement, soldiers are allowed to shoot if their lives are threatened.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon said afterward that it was a "premeditated" "provocation" and that the organizers had ties to al-Qaida and Hamas, and that allowing the flotilla to pass would open the door to Gaza. Allowing the flotilla to pass would open a "corridor" for arms smuggling in Gaza. The international flotilla has been in trouble since its May 29 departure from Cyprus. Even before its departure, the operation's organizers accused Israeli agents of interfering with the flotilla's satellite signals and other communications equipment necessary for navigational positioning, twice causing delays in the flotilla's journey.
One of the organizers, Khuwaida Arraf, said on May 30 that the entire flotilla was "fully prepared for all the different scenarios that could happen" and that they hoped the Israeli authorities would not do the wrong thing by intercepting the flotilla.
Israel, for its part, has been on record as saying it will intercept ships bound for Gaza. Israel has offered the relief flotilla to sail to an Israeli port, where it would unload its supplies, undergo Israeli inspections and then be handed over to Gaza by land, but the flotilla has rejected Israel's demands.
At dusk on May 30, Israel dispatched three warships to launch a maritime interdiction operation, contacting the flotilla by radio and warning that Gaza's waters were a military blockade and that anyone attempting to get close would have to suffer the consequences.
On the evening of May 30, the rescue flotilla changed course for a time to avoid a confrontation with the Israeli warships. There were reports that the flotilla personnel were aware that the Israelis were going to intercept, but did not want the interception to take place at night, but rather hoped that the interception could take place during the day so that it could be seen by a wider audience.