Gaza Flotilla: 19 killed, whole world outcries

A pre-dawn Israeli commandos raid on the aid flotilla en route to Gaza resulted in nearly 19 deaths while leaving dozens of passengers injured.

So far 10 people have been confirmed dead while witnesses say the death toll is nearly the double of the confirmed official figure.

The unfortunate drama began when Israel’s navy commandos tried to storm the biggest ship in the fleet to try to stop it from going towards Gaza. Upon meeting some physical resistance the commandos opened fire resulting in many deaths while scores of others were injured.

The event took place in international waters about 40 miles out in the sea.

Israel says that the passengers were armed and its commandos were provoked first after which the commandos resorted to live firing. While the peace activists claim there was no ammunition aboard and the commandoes raided the vessel shooting.

The aid flotilla which comprises of 6 ships is boarded by hundreds of peace activists from all over the world while the unfortunate vessel in the news had nearly 700 people aboard.

The ships have now been towed to Israel’s Ashdod port from where the activists will be deported to their respective countries. The ships carry nearly 10,000 tons of aid.

The Israeli raid drew widespread criticism from all over the world especially from its only long time Muslim ally, Turkey, as the majority of the passengers on board and among the dead were from Turkey.

Israel’s ambassadors in various European countries were called upon for condemnation of the incident while the Europe Union has called for an investigation into the matter.