No less than 10 people were killed when Israeli commandos attacked a fleet of ships that were carrying pro-Palestinian activists and 10,000 tons of aid supplies. The Gaza flotilla was ambushed by Israeli commandos who attacked on around 500 people on board. Further the Israeli army has threatened that the eight ships of the fleet will be forcefully pulled to an Israeli port if the fleet of ships did not return back. They further added that they will seize all the aid supplies brought by the ships.
The Israeli commandos attacked the ships when they were around 80 miles away from the Israeli port out in the international waters. Israeli forces stated that they were attacked by sticks, live fire, iron rods and knives after that they opened fire on the activists. The activists on board considered this attack brutal as they commented that Israeli forces attacked civilians.
The army claims that two of the activists who died were openly firing at the Israeli soldiers while 4 Israeli commandos got injured in the attack and one of them was hit by the live fire. The communication from board was cut off as all the satellite phones on the ships were turned off.
The Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein and the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner Iaureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland was also on board along with activists. This attack caused fierceness amongst Turkish people as they demonstrated protests across the country and tried to attack Israeli embassy in Istanbul. However the Turkish police stopped the angry protestors.