Israel military investigating deadly flotilla raid

ISTANBUL (AP) - An aid ship trying to break the blockade of Gaza could reach Israel's 20-mile (32-kilometer) exclusion zone late Friday, an activist said, but Israel's prime minister has vowed the ship will not reach land.

The dueling comments suggest a potential new clash over Israel's three-year-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip - and come only four days after an Israeli commando raid on a larger aid flotilla left nine activists dead.

Greta Berlin, a spokesman for the Free Gaza group, said in Nicosia the 1,200-ton Rachel Corrie is heading directly to Gaza and will not stop in any port on the way. It is trying to deliver hundreds of tons of aid, including wheelchairs, medical supplies and concrete.

By Friday afternoon, the ship was 150 miles (240 kilometers) from the coast of Gaza in international waters, the group said on its website. Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead McGuire and the former head of the U.N. Oil-for-Food program in Iraq, Denis Halliday, were among the 11 passengers on board.

The Irish vessel is named after an American college student crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer while protesting house demolitions in Gaza.

Israel will not allow the aid ship to reach Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told senior Cabinet ministers late Thursday. According to a participant in the meeting, he said Israel made several offers to direct the ship to an Israeli port, where the aid supplies would be unloaded, inspected and transferred to Gaza by land, but the offers were rejected.

Netanyahu has hotly rejected calls to lift the blockade on Gaza, insisting that it prevents missile attacks on Israel. The Rachel Corrie's cargo of concrete is also a problem, because Israel considers that to have military uses.

Netanyahu has instructed the military to act with sensitivity in preventing the Rachel Corrie from landing and avoid harming those on board, the participant said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.

Israel has rejected demands for an international panel to probe Monday's deadly commando raid on the aid ships, saying it can conduct a professional, impartial investigation on its own.

Activists say Israel sabotaged the previous aid flotilla, and Israeli defense officials said Friday only that unspecified "actions" were taken when the boats were still far from Gaza that delayed the flotilla. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was classified.

The Turkish activists' deaths on the aid ship increased tensions in the Mideast, especially with Turkey, an important ally of Israel. On Thursday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel's actions "a historic mistake."

His deputy on Friday announced that Turkey was reducing its economic and defense cooperation with Israel. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said all deals with Israel are being evaluated.

"We are serious on this issue. New cooperation will not start and relations with Israel will be reduced," he said.

Israel says its commandos opened fire Monday as a last resort after they were attacked, and released a video showing soldiers in riot gear descending from a helicopter into a crowd of men with clubs. Three or four activists overpowered each soldier as he landed.

Returning activists admitted fighting with the Israeli commandos but insisted their actions were in self defense because the ships were being boarded in international waters by a military force.

In Istanbul on Friday, 20,000 people waved Turkish, Palestinian and Hezbollah flags in a memorial service outside the Beyazit mosque for a member of the IHH charity group who the activists say was killed while taking pictures of the Israeli commando raid.

The youngest of the nine activists killed, 19-year-old Furkan Dogan, was being buried Friday in his family's hometown in Kayseri in central Turkey. Another 10,000 people attended the funeral service for Dogan ahead of his burial, chanting "down with Israel," but Dogan's father, Ahmet Dogan, was stoic.

"Neither I nor his mother or brother have any grief," he told the AP as he arranged flowers on his son's coffin before prayers started. "We believe he became a martyr and God accepts martyrs to paradise."

Dogan, who was born in Troy, New York, moved to Turkey when he was two. The other eight slain activists were all Turkish nationals.

In Istanbul, three members of an anti-Zionist Jewish sect called a news conference to blast Israel's actions.

"We are totally opposed and condemn this atrocity that has been perpetrated against Turkey, against the ships of the human rights activists," Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, a leader of the radical Neturei Karta, told reporters.

"We all pray for the speedy and peaceful total dismantlement of the state of Israel and for a free Gaza ... so we can live together - Jews, Muslims and Christians."

ISTANBUL (AP) - Mourners in Istanbul hoisted coffins above their heads to cheers of "God is great!" Thursday to honor activists slain during an Israel commando raid, as Israel rejected demands for an international panel to investigate its deadly seizure of a Gaza-bound aid ship.

Some 10,000 people turned out for the funeral of eight of the nine activists killed in Monday's pre-dawn military takeover of six aid ships - eight Turks and an American of Turkish origin. The funeral came after thousands jammed Istanbul's main square overnight to welcome home hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists plucked from the aid boats then expelled by Israel.

The crowd prayed before eight Turkish and Palestinian flag-draped coffins lined up in a row outside Istanbul's Fatih mosque in a traditional service for the dead.

"Our friends have been massacred," Bulent Yildirim, the head of the Islamic charity group IHH that organized the flotilla, told the crowd.

"We became martyrs," he said, to shouts of "God is great!" from the mourners, who then carried the coffins through the crowd to cars to be taken for burial.

A ninth victim, a Turkish man, was to have a separate service on Friday.

Earlier, Turks flooded Istanbul's main Taksim Square in the middle of the night before moving to Istanbul airport to welcome home the activists. One large banner read "Murderous Israelis: Take your hands off our ships" while others in the crowd held signs reading "From now on, nothing will be the same" and "Intifada is everywhere - at land and at sea" - in reference to the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

All of the nine activists died from gunshot wounds - some from close range - according to initial forensic examinations done in Turkey after the bodies were returned, NTV television reported, citing unidentified medical sources.

Israeli officials have insisted that their military already is investigating the raid and the country is capable of conducting a credible review.

"It is our standard practice after military operations, especially operations in which there have been fatalities, to conduct a prompt, professional, transparent and objective investigation in accordance with the highest international standards," government spokesman Mark Regev said.

Another official in the Israeli prime minister's office said there would be no separate international investigation. He spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official decision.

Israel maintains that the commandos only used their pistols as a last resort after they were attacked, and released a video showing soldiers in riot gear descending from a helicopter into a crowd of men with sticks and clubs. Three or four activists overpowered each soldier as he landed.

Returning activists admitted fighting with the Israelis but insisted their actions were in self defense, because their ships were being boarded in international waters by a military force.

"We first thought they were trying to scare us," Yildirim said, following his deportation from Israel early Thursday. "When we started morning prayers, they began attacking from everywhere, from the boats, from the helicopters. Our friends only performed civil resistance."

Yildirim said the activists fought the Israeli commandos with chairs and sticks and that they seized weapons from some Israeli soldiers, but threw them into the sea.

Israel says two of the seven soldiers wounded were shot with guns that were wrested from them, while a third was stabbed.

"Even if we had used the guns that would be still a legitimate self defense," Yildirim said.

The incident has increased tensions in the region, including with Turkey, Israel's closest ally in the Muslim world. On Thursday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel's actions "a historic mistake."

"Israel risks losing its most important friend in the region if it doesn't change its mentality," he said, adding later "from now on we will not bow to this bullying."

The activists say their flotilla aimed to bring 10,000 tons of aid to Palestinians in Gaza, which has been under a three-year blockade by Israel and Egypt.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hotly rejected calls to lift the blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza, insisting the ban prevents missile attacks on Israel.

Netanyahu said the aim of the flotilla was to break the blockade, not to bring aid to Gaza. If the blockade ended, he warned, hundreds of ships would bring in thousands of missiles from Iran, to be aimed at Israel and beyond.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev claimed that Yildirim's Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief, known by its Turkish initials IHH, incited the violence on the ships.

"Unfortunately on one particular boat there were representatives of a very extreme Turkish Islamic radical group, the IHH," he said. "It's documented as having terrorist connections."

The IHH vehemently denies ties to radical groups and is not on the U.S. list of terror groups.

Other activists from the flotilla also insisted their purpose was entirely peaceful.

"However much the Israelis are screaming that they have found weapons, it is just nonsense," said best-selling Swedish crime novelist Henning Mankell, who was traveling on the Swedish-Greek ship Sofia in the Gaza convoy.

"On the ship where I was, they found one weapon and that was my safety razor, and they actually came forward and showed that," Mankell told Swedish radio.

Shaza Barakat a 45-year-old Syrian activist on the Mavi Marmara aid ship, said those who fought were just trying to defend themselves.

"Men on board defended themselves against the Israeli soldiers armed with American rifles with their bare hands," she said.

A total of 466 activists, including more than 50 foreigners, returned to Istanbul early Thursday. Most were Turkish but people from nearly 20 nations were on the aid boats, including from the United States, France, Germany and Britain.

Turkey's ambassador to Israel, Oguz Celikkol, also returned to Istanbul to protest the Israeli raid.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's parliament called on the government Wednesday to review all ties with Israel as the country prepared a huge welcome home for hundreds of Turks detained after Israel's bloody raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

In Israel, all of the nearly 700 activists from the aid ships were at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, waiting to be deported, airport officials said. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said Israel decided not to prosecute any of them, writing in an order Wednesday that "keeping them here would do more damage to the country's vital interests than good."

Israel has come under harsh international condemnation after its commandos stormed a six-ship aid flotilla Monday in international waters, setting off clashes that killed nine activists and wounded dozens. The activists were trying to break the three-year-old Israeli and Egyptian naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Turkish and Greek protesters were to fly home on special planes sent by their respective governments, while others from the nearly 20 nationalities on the ships were traveling home on commercial flights. A big homecoming rally to celebrate the activists was being held later Wednesday in Istanbul's main square.

The commando raid has seriously strained ties between Israel and Turkey. Turkey withdrew its ambassador, scrapped war games with Israel and demanded a U.N. Security Council meeting on the clash as a result.

Hundreds of Turks protested Israel's commando raid for a third day Wednesday and Israeli diplomats' families began packing to leave following orders from the Israeli government.

The Turkish Parliament in Ankara held a heated debate on whether to impose military and economic sanctions on Israel. But lawmakers from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party objected to the measures, apparently trying to avoid aggravating the situation.

Still, in a statement approved by a show of hands, Turkish lawmakers said Israel must formally apologize for the raid, pay compensation to the victims and bring those responsible to justice.

"This attack was an open violation of United Nations rules and international law," Deputy Parliament Speaker Guldal Mumcu said, reading out the declaration.

"Turkey should seek justice against Israel through national and international legal authorities," the declaration said. "The parliament expects the Turkish government to revise the political, military and economic relations with Israel, and to take effective measures."

Erdogan, meanwhile, chaired a security meeting Wednesday of the country's top military commanders to discuss the Israeli raid as well as intensified Kurdish rebel attacks in the southeast.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Israel agreed not to charge the activists after Turkey applied diplomatic pressure.

"We have clearly stated that we would review our ties with Israel if all Turks not released by the end of the day," Davutoglu told a news conference. "No one has the right to try people who were kidnapped in international waters."

Davutoglu also called for an international commission to investigate the nine deaths in the Israeli commando raid and said two seriously injured Turks would remain in Israeli hospitals with a Turkish doctor.

More than 120 activists from a dozen Muslim nations without diplomatic relations with Israel were deported to Jordan before sunrise.

Also Wednesday, Egypt eased its blockade of Gaza after the assault and at the newly opened crossing in the border town of Rafah, about 300 Palestinians entered through Gaza's main gateway to the outside world. A smaller number entered Gaza from Egypt and humanitarian aid also came in including blankets, tents and 13 power generators donated by Russia and Oman.

Gaza has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since Hamas militants seized power in a violent takeover of the seaside strip in 2007. Egypt's opening of the border was believed to be temporary, although the government did not say how long it would last.

In Ankara, Turkey's interior minister, Besir Atalay, said Turkey had beefed up security to protect its Jewish minority as well as Israel's diplomatic missions. He said security provisions were intensified at 20 points in Istanbul alone. The city has several synagogues and Jewish centers that serve 23,000 people.

"Our Jewish citizens are not foreigners here. They make up an essential part of our community. We have lived together for centuries, and we will continue to do so," Davutoglu said.

In the past, there have been occasional attacks on Turkey's Jewish community. In 2003, al-Qaida-linked suicide bombers attacked the British consulate, a British bank and two Jewish synagogues in Istanbul, killing 58 people. In 1986, gunmen killed 22 people in an attack on Istanbul's Neve Shalom synagogue.

Most of Turkey's Jews are descendants of people expelled from Spain in 1492 for refusing to convert to Christianity, and were welcomed by Ottoman Sultan Beyazit. Other Jews found refuge in Turkey after fleeing Nazi persecution during World War II.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship has ignited unprecedented anger in Turkey and driven the Jewish state's relations with its most important Muslim ally to their lowest point in six decades.

There are signs, however, that the countries' long-term strategic alliance and military ties will endure.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan furiously told parliament Tuesday that the "bloody massacre" of at least four Turkish activists among nine passengers slain by Israeli naval commandos was a turning point in the long-standing alliance.

"Nothing will be the same again," Erdogan said, gesturing angrily, his voice shaking at times.

Thousands of Turks staged protests across the country and pockets of demonstrators shouted "down with Israel!" near the Israeli ambassador's residence - an unusual sight in one of the capital's richest districts.

The pro-Islamic newspaper Yeni Safak described the Israeli troops as "The children of Hitler" in a banner headline.

But other officials were delivering messages of restraint and Turkey said it was not canceling plans to accept $183 million (euro150.56 million) worth of Israeli drone planes this summer.

"We will find a solution within law and diplomacy," Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said Monday. "No one should expect us to declare war on Israel over this."

Turkey's eight-year-old Islamic-rooted government has publicly and frequently expressed outrage over Israel's 2008-2009 war in Gaza and continuing blockade of the strip. But Turkey's deeply secular military remains heavily dependent on high-tech Israeli arms in its battle against Kurdish separatist guerrillas based along Turkey's mountainous southeastern border with Iraq.

Israel's right-leaning government said that the countries' defense ministers had agreed hours after the raid that the incident wouldn't affect Israeli weapons sales to Turkey.

The massive Heron drones to be delivered this summer can fly at least 20 hours nonstop and first saw action against Hamas militants in the Gaza war. Turkey hopes they can gather crucial intelligence on Kurdish rebels and allow pinpoint strikes at a time of escalating insurgent attacks. Israel also recently completed a more than $1 billion upgrade of Turkey's aging tank fleet and U.S.-made F-4 warplanes. Turkey has opened its airspace to Israeli pilots for training purposes.

"There are still common interests, common needs," said Ofra Bengio, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Tel Aviv University's Dayan Center. "For the time being, we're in the middle of a crisis...but governments change."

Erdogan met with the military's second-ranking general, the defense minister and national intelligence chief minutes before his speech to parliament. Although Turkey has scrapped three joint army and navy exercises and pulled its ambassador to Israel, Erdogan's heated address shied away from proclaiming a broader change in policy.

"From now on, it is no longer possible to turn a blind eye on the lawless behavior of the current Israeli government," he said.

Turkey called for emergency meetings of the United Nations Security Council and NATO to condemn the killings. But its representative to NATO did not demand that the alliance take collective action against Israel, according to a diplomat who attended the talks. The official asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

"The relations are based on mutual trust and I don't think they are permanently damaged," said Mahfi Egilmez, an analyst with NTV television. "The relations can improve when there is a new government in Israel or when the Gaza conflict is solved."

Turkey, which welcomed Jews fleeing Nazi persecution during the World War II, was among the first Muslim countries to recognize Israel in 1948. The two countries grew closer after signing military cooperation agreements in 1996.

Bilateral trade stands around $2.6 billion - roughly one percent of Turkey's overall trade - and Israeli have given crucial support in recent years to Turkey's efforts to prevent the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during World War I from being labeled a genocide.

Turkey's Islamic-rooted administration has been increasingly assertive diplomatically in the Middle East in recent years and has tried to mediate Israeli talks with Syria. But relations with Israel have been deteriorating steadily since Israel's Gaza war.

Erdogan walked off the stage at the World Economic Forum last year after berating Israel's President Shimon Peres over the Gaza war.

On Tuesday, Erdogan spoke to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about the clash.

Ban plans a whole day of meetings on Wednesday in New York to discuss a U.N. investigation with Turkish, Arab and Israeli officials as well as with members of the Security Council.

In January, Turkish Ambassador Oguz Celikkol was forced to sit on a low sofa and was not greeted with a handshake during a meeting in Israel with Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who later apologized.

Turkey has since begun backing Iran's attempts to quash new U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program, another irritant in relations with the U.S. and Israel.

The Gaza aid flotilla was organized by an Istanbul-based Islamic charity under the unofficial auspices of the Turkish government. Turkey's Foreign Ministry said four Turkish citizens were confirmed slain by the Israeli commandos and another five were also believed to be Turks, although Israeli authorities were still trying to confirm their nationalities.

Turkey sent planes to pick up the wounded after refusing an Israeli offer to bring them home.

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Associated Press writers Ceren Kumova in Ankara, Karoun Demirjian in Jerusalem and Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM (AP) - Pro-Palestinian activists sent another boat to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and Egypt declared it was temporarily opening a crossing into the Palestinian territory after a botched raid on an aid flotilla that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists.

The raid provoked ferocious international condemnation of Israel, raised questions at home, and appeared likely to increase pressure to end the blockade that has deepened the poverty of the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the strip. Turkey, which unofficially supported the flotilla, has led the criticism, calling the Israeli raid a "bloody massacre."

The pro-Palestinian flotilla had been headed to Gaza with tens of thousands of tons of aid that Israel bans from Gaza. After days of warnings, Israel intercepted the flotilla under the cover of darkness early Monday, setting off a violent melee that left nine activists dead and dozens of people, including seven soldiers, wounded. Most of the dead were believed to be Turks.

Israel said 679 people were arrested, and about 50 of those had left the country voluntarily. Hundreds who refused to cooperate remained jailed and subject to deportation.

Israel says the Gaza blockade is needed to prevent the Iranian-backed Hamas, which has fired thousands of rockets into the Jewish state, from building up its arsenal. It also wants to pressure Hamas to free an Israeli soldier it has held for four years.

Critics say the blockade has failed to weaken Hamas but further strapped an already impoverished economy. It also has prevented Gaza from rebuilding after a devastating Israeli military offensive early last year.

Egypt, which has enforced the blockade with Israel since Hamas militants seized control of Gaza three years ago, said it was opening the border for several days to allow aid into the area.

The governor of Egyptian's northern Sinai district, Murad Muwafi, said it was a humanitarian gesture meant to "alleviate the suffering of our Palestinian brothers after the Israeli attack."

Hundreds of Gaza residents quickly gathered at the border. A steady stream of cars with suitcases on roof racks headed toward the border. Some families carrying packed luggage headed to the border by foot. Hamas police with assault rifles patrolled nearby to maintain order.

"We are working to help residents take advantage of this opportunity," said Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Ghussein. "We hope it will be open all the time, not just as a response to yesterday's events."

Greta Berlin said the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the flotilla, would not be deterred and that another cargo boat was off the coast of Italy en route to Gaza. A second boat carrying about three dozen passengers is expected to join it, Berlin said. She said the two boats would arrive in the region late this week or early next week.

"This initiative is not going to stop," she said from the group's base in Cyprus. "We think eventually Israel will get some kind of common sense. They're going to have to stop the blockade of Gaza, and one of the ways to do this is for us to continue to send the boats."

CAIRO (AP) - An Egyptian official says the government is temporarily lifting its blockade of the Gaza Strip to allow aid into the area a day after Israel raided an international flotilla carrying supplies to the Palestinian territory and killed nine activists.

The governor of northern Sinai, Murad Muwafi, says President Hosni Mubarak ordered the opening of the border crossing to Gaza in the town of Rafah for several days.

Muwafi says the opening of the crossing - which Egypt sealed after Gaza was taken over by Hamas militants in 2007 - is an effort to "alleviate the suffering of our Palestinian brothers after the Israeli attack" on the flotilla.

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli commandos rappelled down to an aid flotilla sailing to thwart a Gaza blockade on Monday, clashing with pro-Palestinian activists on the lead ship in a botched raid that left at least nine passengers dead.

Bloodied passengers sprawled on the deck and troops dived into the sea to save themselves during several hours of hand-to-hand fighting that injured dozens of activists and six soldiers. Hundreds of activists were towed from the international waters to Israeli detention centers and hospitals.

International condemnation was swift and harsh as Israel scrambled to explain how what was meant to be a simple takeover of a civilian vessel went so badly awry.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly canceled a planned meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington to rush home. The global reaction appeared likely to increase pressure to end the embargo that has plunged Gaza's 1.5 million residents deeper into poverty.

Most of the information about what happened on the single ship where violence broke out came from Israel, which cut off all communication to and from the activists and provided testimony and video evidence that its soldiers came under attack by activists armed with metal rods, knives, slingshots and two pistols snatched from the troops.

Passengers reached at an Israeli hospital and journalists aboard the ship accused the soldiers of using excessive force. One passenger, who identified himself as American, spoke briefly with reporters.

"I'm not violent. What I can tell you is that there are bruises all over my body. They won't let me show them to you," he said before he was pushed away by a security escort.

A soldier identified only as a sergeant told reporters at a military briefing that the activists on board "were armed with knives, scissors, pepper spray and guns." He said he was armed only with a paintball rifle. "It was a civilian paintball gun that any 12-year-old can play with," he said. "I saw my friends on the deck spitting blood."

The high-seas confrontation was a nightmare scenario for Israel, which insisted its soldiers were simply unprepared for what awaited them on the Mavi Marmara, the ship carrying 600 of the 700 activists headed for Gaza. Instead of carrying their regular automatic rifles, the Israelis said they went in with non-lethal paintball guns and pistols they never expected to use.

Israel intercepted the six ships carrying some 10,000 tons of aid for the isolated seaside territory, which has been blockaded by Israel for three years, with Egypt's cooperation. The Israeli government had urged the flotilla not to try to breach the blockade before the ships set sail from waters off Cyprus on Sunday and offered to take some aid in for them.

Israel has allowed ships through five times, but has blocked them from entering Gaza waters since a three-week military offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers in January 2009.

Key regional ally Turkey withdrew its ambassador on Monday, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency session, the British foreign secretary demanded an end to the blockade of Gaza, and Jordan called Israel's raid a "heinous crime."

An al-Jazeera journalist delivering a report before Israel cut communications said Israel fired at the vessel before boarding it. In one web posting, a Turkish television reporter on the boat cried out, "These savages are killing people here, please help" - a broadcast that ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!"

The military said naval commandos descending from a helicopter onto the deck of a Turkish-flagged ship were assaulted by armed activists. Military footage showed activists swarming around the commandos as they rappelled from a helicopter one by one, hitting them with sticks until they fell to the deck, throwing one off the ship and hurling what the military said was a firebomb.

Speaking alongside the Canadian prime minister, Netanyahu expressed "regret" for the loss of life but said the soldiers "had to defend themselves, defend their lives, or they would have been killed."

Activists said Israeli naval commandos stormed the ships after ordering them to stop in international waters, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) from Gaza's coast.

A spokeswoman for the Free Gaza movement, which organized the flotilla, said the group's goal - beyond just bringing supplies to the impoverished territory - was to shatter the blockade.

"What we're trying to do is open a sea lane between Gaza and the rest of the world," Greta Berlin said in Cyprus. "We're not trying to be a humanitarian mission. We're trying to say to the world, 'You have no right to imprison a million and a half Palestinians."'

Israel's international image had already taken a beating from allegations that it committed war crimes during its 2008-2009 winter war in Gaza, and from widespread global opposition to the blockade. Hamas was also accused of rights violations in that conflict.

Relations with Turkey, a key supporter of the aid flotilla but also until recently Israel's staunchest ally in the Muslim world, were badly damaged by Monday's events, possibly irreparably. Ankara announced it would recall its ambassador and call off all military exercises with Israel. Around 10,000 Turks marched in protest.

At the U.N., Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called the raid "murder conducted by a state" and demanded an immediate Israeli apology, international legal action and an end to the blockade.

The bloody showdown came at a sensitive time for Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. Netanyahu had hoped to receive a high-profile expression of support from Obama after months of strained relations over Israeli settlement construction.

Obama voiced "deep regret," over the raids, and the White House said he and Netanyahu agreed by phone to reschedule White House talks. The U.S. recently began mediating indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians following a 17-month breakdown in contacts.

Israel's immediate concern on Monday was what to do about the boats and their passengers. It ferried the wounded to hospitals by helicopter and towed the six ships to port, giving each of the activists a choice of deportation or detention.

By late Monday, about 150 of the activists - most from Turkey - had been taken off the boats, Israeli Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said, adding the process would continue into Tuesday. She said about 30 had agreed to be deported, and the rest would be detained.

A commando who spoke to reporters on a naval vessel off the coast, identified only as "A," said he and his comrades were taken off guard by a group of Arabic-speaking men when they rappelled onto the deck. He said some of the soldiers were stripped of their helmets and their pistols and some had jumped overboard to escape the violence.

A high-ranking naval official displayed a box confiscated from the boat containing switchblades, slingshots, metal balls and metal bats.

Turkey's NTV network showed activists beating one commando with sticks as he landed on deck. Dr. Arnon Afek, deputy director of Chaim Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv, said two commandos were brought in with gunshot wounds. Another had serious head wounds, Afek added.

At Barzilai hospital in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, a few activists trickled in under military escort, claiming they had been beaten during the assault.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli "massacre" and declared three days of mourning across the West Bank.

Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the rival Hamas government in Gaza, condemned the "brutal" Israeli attack and called on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to intervene.

After nightfall, Hamas-linked militants fired a rocket that exploded in Israel, the militants and the Israeli military said. Nobody was hurt. The militants said the rocket attack was in response to Israel's raid on the flotilla.

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Associated Press Writers Tia Goldenberg aboard the Israeli warship INS Kidon, Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara, Rob Gillies in Toronto and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli police say 16 pro-Palestinian activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla have been sent to jail after a deadly confrontation at sea. Dozens of other activists are to be deported.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the activists were taken ashore and were jailed in the southern desert town of Beersheba after refusing to identify themselves.

Israeli naval commandos stopped the six-ship flotilla early Monday, setting off a fierce clash that killed nine activists.

Israel has said it will deport the roughly 700 activists in the flotilla. But those who refuse to cooperate will be jailed. About 80 activists have been brought to shore so far.

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 10 passengers in a predawn raid that set off worldwide condemnation and a diplomatic crisis.

Israel said the forces encountered unexpected resistance as they boarded the vessels. Dozens of passengers and at least five Israeli soldiers were wounded in the confrontation in international waters.

Israel's tough response triggered widespread condemnation across Europe; many of the passengers were from European countries. The raid also strained already tense relations with Israel's longtime Muslim ally Turkey, the unofficial sponsor of the mission, and drew more attention to the plight of Gaza's 1.5 million people.

Turkey announced it was withdrawing its ambassador to Israel, canceling three joint military drills and calling on the U.N. Security Council to convene in an emergency session about Israel. The Israeli ambassadors in Sweden, Spain, Denmark and Greece were summoned for meetings, and the French foreign minister called for an investigation.

The violent takeover also threatened to deal yet another blow to Israel's international image, already tarnished by war crimes accusations in Gaza and its blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory.

It occurred a day before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss the Middle East peace process.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned "the disproportionate use of force" against the flotilla.

"All light must be shed on the circumstances of this tragedy, which underlines the urgency of resuming peace talks," he said in a statement.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed regret for the deaths but blamed the violence on organizers of the flotilla, calling the effort a "political provocation" by anti-Israel forces.

Israeli security forces were on alert across the country, and the government advised Israelis to avoid travel to Turkey.

There were conflicting accounts of what happened early Monday.
 
An Al-Jazeera reporter on one of the Turkish ships said the Israelis fired at the vessel before boarding it. The Israelis, who had declared they would not let the ships reach Gaza, said they only opened fire after being attacked by activists with sticks, knives and live fire from weapons seized from the Israeli commandos.

"On board the ship we found weapons prepared in advance and used against our forces," declared Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon.

"The organizers' intent was violent, their method was violent and the results were unfortunately violent. Israel regrets any loss of life and did everything to avoid this outcome."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli "aggression," declared three days of mourning across the West Bank and called on the U.N. Security Council and Arab League to hold emergency sessions on the incident.

Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the rival Hamas government in Gaza, condemned the "brutal" Israeli attack and called on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to intervene.

Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, said soldiers were forced by violent activists to respond with live fire.

The activists were headed to Gaza on a mission meant to draw attention to a 3-year-old Israeli blockade of the coastal territory. Israel imposed the blockade after Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group, violently seized the territory. Critics say the blockade has unfairly hurt Gaza's 1.5 million people.
 
"It's disgusting that they have come on board and attacked civilians. We are civilians," said Greta Berlin, a spokeswoman for the Free Gaza movement, which organized the flotilla. She spoke from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus and said she had lost contact with the flotilla.

Before the ships set sail from waters off the east Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Sunday, Israel had urged the flotilla not to try to breach the blockade and offered to transfer the cargo to Gaza from an Israeli port, following a security inspection.

Israeli naval commandos stormed the ships in a pre-dawn raid while they were in international waters after ordering them to stop about 80 miles (130 kilometers) from Gaza's coast, according to activists.

A Turkish website showed video of pandemonium on board one of the ships, with activists in orange life jackets running around as some tried to help an activist apparently unconscious on the deck. The site also showed video of an Israeli helicopter flying overhead and Israeli warships nearby.

Turkey's NTV showed activists beating one Israeli soldier with sticks as he rappelled from a helicopter onto one of the boats.

The Al-Jazeera satellite channel reported by telephone from the Turkish ship leading the flotilla that Israeli navy forces fired at the ship and boarded it, wounding the captain.

"These savages are killing people here, please help," a Turkish television reporter said.

The broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!"

The Israeli military said troops only opened fire after encountering unexpected resistance from the activists. Activists attacked troops with knives and iron rods, and opened fire with two pistols seized from the forces.

A total of five soldiers were wounded, two seriously, including at least one hit by live fire, the army said. Two of the dead activists had fired at soldiers with pistols, the army said.

 "They planned this attack," said Israeli military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch. "Our soldiers were injured from these knives and sharp metal objects ... as well as from live fire."

The ships were being towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod, and wounded were evacuated by helicopter to Israeli hospitals, officials said. One of the ships had reached port by midday.

There were no details on the identities of the casualties, or on the conditions of some of the more prominent people on board, including 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, European legislators and Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, 85.

Satellite phones on board the ships were turned off, and communication with a small group of reporters embedded with the Israeli military was blocked.

The Free Gaza Movement is an international group of pro-Palestinian activists that claims the blockade, imposed three years ago after the militant Islamic Hamas group overran Gaza, is unjust and a violation of international law.

Organizers included people affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian group that often sends international activists into battle zones, and the IHH, a Turkish aid group that Israel accuses of having terrorist links.

Hasan Naiboglu, the Turkish maritime affairs undersecretary, told the Anatolia news agency that Israel had jammed communications with the ships. He accused Israel of violating international law by carrying out the raid in international waters.

Israel's Ynet news website said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called Turkish officials, including the defense and foreign ministers, to discuss the raid.

The United Nations expressed "shock" and condemned the killings. "We are in contact with the Israeli authorities to express our deep concern and to seek a full explanation," said a statement from the highest-ranking U.N. official in the region, Robert Serry.

The flotilla of three cargo ships and three passenger ships carrying 10,000 tons of aid and 700 activists was carrying items that Israel bars from reaching Gaza, like cement and other building materials.

This is the ninth time that the Free Gaza movement has tried to ship in humanitarian aid to Gaza since August 2008.

Israel has allowed ships through five times, but has blocked them from entering Gaza waters since a three-week military offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers in January 2009.

The latest flotilla was the largest to date.