Photo: Around 10,000 people marched from the Israeli consulate in Istanbul towards the city's main square on Monday, shouting slogans and waving banners saying "Killer Israel".
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"The deadly last moments of the Gaza flotilla"
by Joe Krauss, AFP, published in the Vancouver Sun, May 31, 2010, at:
ASHDOD, Israel - Naval commandos can be seen rappelling down from helicopters then pointing assault rifles, in some of the dramatic footage of Israel's deadly pre-dawn raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla on Monday.
Israel says the troops returned fire after they were attacked with live rounds, knives and clubs, but the organizers of the Gaza blockade busting bid insist the soldiers started shooting the moment they hit the deck.
"They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep," the Free Gaza Movement said.
Only limited footage of the incident has been broadcast as communications with the six ships participating in the flotilla appeared to have been scrambled during the operation some reports say left 19 passengers dead and 36 wounded....
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"Turks rally against Israeli attack"
In Aljazeera, May 31, 2010, at
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the Turkish city of Istanbul to denounce Israel over its attack on the convoy of Gaza-bound aid ships that left at least 15 people dead.
Around 10,000 people marched from the Israeli consulate in Istanbul towards the city's main square on Monday, shouting slogans and waving banners saying "Killer Israel".
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"Israel's Gaza blockade targets Hamas while citizens suffer"
In the Guardian (U.K.), May 31, 2010, at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/31/gaza-blockade-israel
The aid flotilla attacked by Israeli troops today was trying to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed by Israel in June 2007.
Israel said the blockade was intended to hold Hamas – which it views as a terrorist group – "responsible and accountable" for rocket attacks on its territory. It is also intended to constrain Hamas's ability to rule in Gaza, and to put pressure on it to release Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier held captive for four years.
The blockade, preventing all exports from Gaza and confining imports to a limited supply of humanitarian goods, has failed to bring down Hamas but has heaped misery on Gaza's 1.5 million residents.
The UN humanitarian coordinator said last week that the formal economy in Gaza has "collapsed" and 60% of households were short of food.
According to UN statistics, around 70% of Gazans live on less than a dollar a day, 75% rely on food aid and 60% have no daily access to water.
Luxury foods are banned and a UN report last year said that on average it took 85 days to get shelter kits into Gaza, 68 days to deliver health and paediatric hygiene kits, and 39 days for household items such as bedding and kitchen utensils. It said that school textbooks and stationery had been delayed.
The effect of the blockade was felt even more acutely in the aftermath of the invasion of the strip by Israeli forces in the winter of 2008/9, as materials needed for reconstruction were delayed or banned from entering Gaza. A UN factfinding mission described the blockade as "collective punishment".
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