23/09/2010 An inquiry ordered by the UN Human Rights Council said on Wednesday that Israel violated human rights law and international humanitarian law when it occupation troops stormed the "Freedom Flotilla" last May.
The probe added that there was clear evidence to back persecution against the Zionist entity for committing crimes of "willful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; and willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health."
On May 3, nine Turkish activists were martyred when Israeli occupation soldiers stormed aid ships going to end the crippling blockade on Gaza.
The probe also said Israel's enforcement of a blockade was itself unlawful, since Gaza was suffering from a humanitarian crisis on the day of the deadly raid. "For this reason alone, the blockade is unlawful and cannot be sustained in law. This is so regardless of the grounds on which it is sought to justify the legality of the blockade," said the report, which will be presented to the rights council on Monday.
It said even those activists who did not try to stop Israeli soldiers from boarding the aid ships "received injuries, including fatal injuries."
"It is apparent that no effort was made to minimize injuries at certain states of the operation and that the use of live fire was done in an extensive and arbitrary manner," added the inquiry.
"The circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution," it continued.
"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence," said the probe.
The fact-finding mission, chaired by Karl Hudson-Phillips, former judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, had travelled to Turkey, Jordan and Britain to interview witnesses and officials for the probe. Desmond de Silva, former chief prosecutor of the Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal, and Shanthi Dairiam, as Malaysian human rights expert, are the other members of the panel.
ISRAEL REJECTS THE PROBE
For its part, Israel rejected the report as "biased" and "one-sided." "The report... is as biased and as one sided as the body that has produced it," said a statement released by the Israeli foreign ministry late Wednesday night.
"Israel... is of the opinion that the flotilla incident is amply and sufficiently investigated as it is. All additional dealing with this issue is superfluous and unproductive."
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