Gaza Flotilla Raid

• Israeli PM: Turkey looked for a fight on ship

  Israel's prime minister defended the deadly commando raid on an international flotilla protesting the Gaza blockade in opening testimony before an internal inquiry commission Monday, and suggested Turkey had sought the violent confrontation on board.Benjamin Netanyahu told the commission that Ankara had rejected Israel's prior appeals to halt the f...

• Israel succumbs for UN probe into Gaza flotilla raid

  Succumbing to an international investigation for its army's action for the first time, Israel on Monday agreed for a UN probe into the bloody May 31 raid by its commandos on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a development described by UN chief Ban Ki-moon as "unprecedented."Israeli naval commandos, airdropped on a Turkish aid ship deck to enforce their co...

• Israel ease curbs on 'civilian' goods into Gaza

  Israel's cabinet on Sunday gave its approval to ease the three-year land blockade of the Gaza Strip to allow all "civilian" goods into the enclave in a bid to quell mounting international criticism following a bloody sea raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Hamas-run territory.

• Israeli raid on aid flotilla had 'serious defects': Probe

  The bloody raid by Israel's naval commandos on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla last month suffered from "serious defects", including inadequate preparation and lack of sufficient intelligence, an internal probe has concluded.

• Lifting Gaza blockade risky: Militants have 5,000 rockets says Israeli security chief

  A top Israeli security official is warning that lifting Israel's naval blockade of Gaza could pose a grave threat to the Jewish state.

• Gaza flotilla attack: Israel rejects Ban's call for global probe panel

  Israel on Sunday rejected UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's call to establish an international panel of inquiry into its raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla last Monday that left nine people dead.

• Israel seeks 'new ways' to supply Gaza, official says

  While still insisting that its blockade of Gaza is essential to its security, the Israeli government is now shifting its position, "exploring new ways" of allowing goods to reach the coastal enclave, an Israeli official said Thursday.

• Flotilla raid: 4 Lebanese nationals released

  Four Lebanese detainees, captured during Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza bound aid flotilla, were released back on Lebanese soil on Wednesday.The group, including two journalists from the Al Jazeera television network, was given a hero's welcome as they arrived at the Nagoura border crossing with Israel.A large crowd of people, including supporters ...

• Israel holds hundreds seized during raid on flotilla

  A day after Israeli commandoes raided an aid flotilla seeking to breach the blockade of Gaza, Israel held more than 600 activists seized aboard the convoy on Tuesday as news reports said activists may be planning a fresh attempt to ferry supplies to the Hamas-run enclave.

• Israeli raid complicates US ties and push for peace

  Israel's deadly commando raid on Monday on a flotilla trying to break a blockade of Gaza complicated President Obama's efforts to move ahead on Middle East peace negotiations and introduced a new strain into an already tense relationship between the United States and Israel.

• Israel in eye of storm over Gaza ship raid

  Israel's regional allies froze military ties as angry protests erupted over the storming of aid ships bound for Gaza, while Muslim leaders demanded swift UN action to punish the "criminal" assault.