THE ISRAELI prime minister has rejected UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon’s proposal for an international investigation into Israel’s commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last week, during which nine Turkish activists were killed.
Benyamin Netanyahu met senior ministers yesterday to discuss other options, amid reports that Israel is likely to opt for an internal inquiry, possibly with a US observer.
All 11 activists and eight crew from the Irish-Malaysian aid ship the MV Rachel Corrie were deported yesterday. Among them are five Irish citizens due back in Dublin today.
The Israeli military claimed last night that five of the passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara had links to Hamas or the Islamic Jihad, including Irish-American activist Ken O’Keeffe (41).
The aid from the Rachel Corrie, which was intercepted by Israeli forces on Saturday, is still being unloaded at the Israeli port of Ashdod.
The supplies will be taken overland to Gaza in the hope that the Hamas authorities will allow it in. Forty lorries carrying aid from the six ships seized last week are still waiting in Israel because Hamas is refusing to receive the supplies.
A representative from Israel's co- ordinator of activities in the territories said last night that the cement on board the Rachel Corriewould be allowed into Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu said that Israel was still considering ways to ease the blockade. Welfare minister Yitzhak Herzog said that there was a need to examine ways to increase aid to Gaza.