Region | Palestinian Territories
Blood from the injured ran in the stairwell of ship
Vessel was 74 nautical miles from Gaza when attacked
- By Abbas Al Lawat, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 June 3, 2010
- Image Credit: AFP
- Israeli Navy troops storming the Mavi Marmara. The aid workers managed to keep Israeli soldiers off the ship for at least half an hour - using hosepipes and sticks to beat off a trained army.
It was just before dawn prayers when smoke bombs were hurled onto the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship in the Freedom Flotilla carrying 700 humanitarian aid workers, journalists and diplomats.
Israeli forces first attacked the ship 74 nautical miles from Gaza — this is six miles from the extended Israeli zone.
The Mavi Marmara had defence teams in place, which donned gas masks and white gloves and promptly threw the smoke bombs off the deck into the sea.
The ship had altered its course slightly, in an attempt to buy more time, trying to ensure that any attack would be in daylight, when all were awake.
In the first of three attacks, the Israeli forces used paint pellet guns with paintballs mixed with glass.
They were repelled by the defence teams on deck, who used hosepipes to blast soldiers from the sides of the ship, after they tried to board from speedboats. Makeshift weapons were fashioned from items laying on the deck — as there were absolutely no weapons on board at all when the army attacked.
Rubber bullets
Chaos reined, with aid workers, defence teams and journalists running around on the deck in life jackets, trying to find out what was happening.
Helicopters overhead dipped, producing strong winds, which whipped up the sea.
In the second attack on the ship carrying aid to Gaza, the army used rubber bullets, which began to injure those on board.
A soldier landed on the deck and was overpowered by the teams, who threw his gun into the sea. He and another soldier were taken below deck, slightly injured in the scuffle. One sat in a corner, shivering, crying, refusing to speak when asked his name.
The organisers of the flotilla, the IHH, made an announcement, asking the teams to back off — once people saw blood flowing they became more aggressive. Blood from the injured ran in the stairwell, causing people to slip.
It was in the third attack that injuries turned to deaths. Four were killed in this third attempt to overpower the ship, with some bleeding to death from their injuries. Each round of attack was increasingly severe.
After live rounds started being fired, the ship gave in to surrender. Another announcement was made — in both English and Hebrew, that the ship had surrendered, it would no longer resist and that the Israelis had control. It also appealed for medical help for the injured.
An Israeli soldier held a one-year-old boy in one arm, gun in the other, and ordered the captain to take the ship to Ashdod. Organisers tried to make a deal with the army — their unharmed soldiers in return for the child, but the soldier simply repeated the same order.
Appeal
Four deaths turned into 16 by the time medical aid was provided — one and a half hours later. The hostages were lined up, sitting tightly on sofas and beds. Israeli soldiers kept their weapons trained on them, pointing them directly at their foreheads if they moved.
Haneen Zoubi, a member of the Knesset, wrote an appeal for medical aid on a piece of cardboard, and marched straight up to the Israeli soldiers, to no avail.
The aid workers managed to keep Israeli soldiers off the ship for at least half an hour — using hosepipes and sticks to beat off a trained army.
UN rights council: Probe gets go-ahead
The UN Human Rights Council yesterday adopted a resolution setting up an independent international probe into Israel's interception of Gaza-bound ships. The resolution, which also condemned Israel's "outrageous attack," was adopted after a vote, with 32 countries voting in favour, three against, and eight abstentions.
It "decides to dispatch an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian aid and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance."
The text also decides to "authorise the president of the council to appoint members of this independent international fact finding system."
— With inputs from AFP
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