Israel moved swiftly on Sunday to expel the latest group of activists trying to break its naval blockade on Gaza, as pressure grew for an international inquiry into a raid that killed nine Turks. Israel’s powerful inner forum of seven mi-nisters was to meet behind closed doors to seek ways to calm the international outcry over its deadly storming of a first Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31.
Global calls for an independent inquiry with foreign observers were to be weighed against Israel’s reluctance to submit itself to any form of international tribunal.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which rules Gaza, meanwhile, hailed the latest bid to break Israel’s blockade.
“We condemn the continuing policy of terrorism implemented by Israel against the Palestinian people and activists for peace and freedom,” it added in a statement released from its base in exile in Damascus.
In a first batch, seven of 19 activists from the Rachel Corrie aid ship which tried to run the Gaza siege were expelled from Israel to Jordan on Sunday. The remaining 12 were due to be deported later in the day.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, defending Monday’s deadly raid, insisted Israel would never allow a situation in which arms could be sent to Gaza’s Islamist rulers.
“Everyone on board the boat will be expelled on Sunday after they signed a waiver renouncing their right to appeal to an Israeli judge,” Israeli immigration official Sabine Haddad told AFP.
Six Malaysians and a Cuban national from the boat were deported to Jordan in Sunday afternoon, leaving Israel via the Allenby Bridge, an AFP correspondent at the crossing said. An Indonesian journalist, who was injured in last Monday’s deadly commando raid, also crossed with the group.
The remaining 11 activists from the Rachel Corrie — five Irish nationals, including Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire and six Filipinos — as well as the ship’s Scottish captain, were to fly out of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion international airport later in the afternoon and overnight, Mr Haddad said.
Israeli forces intercepted and took control of the boat on Saturday as it tried to reach Gaza, in a peaceful operation that contrasted with the May 31 raid when commandos stormed a Turkish boat packed with more than 600 passengers.
Israel says its commandos only resorted to force after being attacked as they reached the deck, but activists claim the soldiers started firing first.
Amid increased regional tensions, an aide to Iran’s supreme guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Sunday that the Islamic republic’s elite Revolutionary Guards would be prepared to escort cargo ships on blockade-busting missions.
—AFP