Israeli Army Warns Violent Interception of Flotilla Straggler

Tuesday June 01, 2010 15:30 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli Army and Navy are willing to use violence against the Rachel Corrie, an Irish ship that was supposed to sail with the Freedom Flotilla but was delayed by technical problems. The Rachel Corrie has already left Ireland and is on its way to Gaza.

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Despite the international outry over Monday's raid, violence is still an option for stopping the last ship in the Flotilla, sources in the Israeli military said.

On Monday at dawn, the Israeli army violently attacked and boarded the Freedom Flotilla and opened fire at the activists on board the Turkish Ship “Marmara” killing at 19 activists and wounded six others.

The numbers are estimated as Israel arrested all peace activists and imposed a media blackout on the attack. Most of the casualties are Turkish.

Israel is currently interrogating the detained activists and intends to file charges against activists claimed to have “resisted arrest” after the Israeli Navy violently took over the ships in international waters and opened fire at the activists.

Israel claims that nine were killed, most of them from Turkey, and nearly 37 wounded, but the number cannot be verified as Israel fails to release exact numbers.

Head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 areas, Sheikh Raed Salah, was seen in a report for Al Jazeera unharmed, sitting in the make-shift prison in Ashdod. He suffered minor injuries during the Israeli attack.

Israel said it will start interrogating the kidnapped activists and would later on deport them to their countries.

But, Israel also said it will detain and press charges against some of the activists who, according to Israel, are involved in attacking the soldiers who boarded their ship.

The Free Gaza Movement reported that a team of lawyers is trying to meet the detained activists but Israel is still rejecting to cooperate and rejecting to allow anybody to meet the activists.

The movement demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all human rights supporters, and described the Israeli attack is “state terrorism carried out against nonviolent, unarmed, civilians, including parliamentarians, political and social leaders, journalists and representatives of civil society organizations from 40 states”

The Free Gaza Movement demanded arresting the Israeli officials and soldiers in charge of this deadly attack. It also demanded imposing social and political sanctions on Israel.

international | gaza siege | news report saed at imemc dot org