CAIRO: The UN Security Council condemned the Israeli attack on the Gaza aid flotilla in a joint statement Tuesday, but stopped short of passing a resolution.
Protests continued against the deadly Israeli raid in international waters, which left an estimated 10-19 activists killed.
“The Security Council deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force during the Israeli military operation in international waters against the convoy sailing to Gaza,” the statement said.
“The Security Council stresses that the situation in Gaza is not sustainable,” the statement added. The council also called for an “impartial” investigation into the incident.
The deaths did not deter one of the organizers of the flotilla, the Free Gaza Movement, from announcing that two ships which were delayed are now heading to Gaza in another attempt to break the siege on the Strip.
The six ships in the original flotilla, which were carrying some 10,000 tons of aid, are still at the Israel port of Ashdod and the 700 activists were also being held in Israel with the exception of those injured who were being treated in hospitals. However, by Tuesday around 48 activists returned to their countries.
The returning activists gave details of what happened aboard, stating that the Israeli troops fired on them and then treated them as hostages after taking over the ship.
Two Muslim Brotherhood MPs who were traveling with the convoy, Mohamed El-Beltagy and Hazem Farouk were released and returned to Egypt. There is still no news of another Egyptian on the flotilla, who also holds the British citizenship.
Protests against the raid continued in Egypt. After an initial small protest in front of the Foreign Ministry Monday afternoon, a bigger protest took place in Fateh Mosque on Ramsis Street later in the evening with some 1,000 protestors chanting against the attack.
At a Tuesday protest outside parliament, an estimated 200 protestors chanted against the government and President Hosni Mubarak for what is seen as their complicity with Israel over the siege of Gaza.
Israeli Defense Forces stormed the flotilla in the early hours of Monday to prevent it from reaching the besieged Gaza Strip. Fighting broke out which led to the death of the activists. No communication with the ships or the activists being held has been possible since the raid.
The attack drew widespread condemnation from around the world, with many countries summoning their Israeli ambassador over the incident. However, it is Turkey that has been the most vehement in its criticism as the flotilla’s flagship and around half of the activists were from Turkey. It is believed that also most of those killed were Turks.
A delegation representing the Egyptian Women For Change movement met with the Turkish ambassador on Tuesday to give their condolences to the Turks killed in the Israeli raid.
Dressed in black, the group of activists and journalists that included Shahenda Maqlad, Gamila Ismail and Nour El-Hoda Zaki expressed their appreciation of the “respectable” Turkish stance.
Al Jazeera issued a statement holding Israel responsible for the safety of its journalists that were accompanying the flotilla.
“The Network holds the Israeli government responsible for the safety of its journalists and cameramen and asks the Israeli government to release them immediately,” the statement read.
And while it seems that the majority of Israelis supported their government’s actions in the raid, members of the Israeli peace movement condemned the attack.
Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery of the Gush Shalom movement said, “Only a crazy government that has lost all restraint and all connection to reality could something like that — consider ships carrying humanitarian aid and peace activists from around the world as an enemy and send massive military force to international waters to attack them, shoot and kill.”
The Gush Shalom movement said in a statement Monday, “This is a day of disgrace to the State of Israel, a day of anxiety in which we discover that our future was entrusted to a bunch of trigger-happy people without any responsibility. This day is a day of disgrace and madness and stupidity without limit, the day the Israeli government took care to blacken the name of the country in the world, adding convincing evidence of aggressiveness and brutality to Israel’s already bad international image, discouraging and distancing the few remaining friends.”
It continued, “Indeed, today a provocation took place off the coast of Gaza, but the provocateurs were not the peace activists invited by the Palestinians and seeking to reach Gaza. The provocation was carried out by Navy ships commandos at the bidding of the Israeli government, blocking the way of the aid boats and using deadly force.”
–Additional reporting by Essam Fadl
