{"article":{"id":239986,"heading":"Gaza Flotilla Massacre: Where are the Missing?","author":"?","created":"2010-06-06 10:08:11","modified":"2013-11-11 01:05:08","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 08:05:08","article":"

There was a shot every minute in the Israeli pirate attack on the Gaza Humanitarian Flotilla, with an entire hour of shooting and killing. At least six people remain unaccounted for. 54 people were admitted to Israeli hospitals where many have undergone surgery and are in intensive care. This massacre was paid for with US tax dollars.

From: \"54 Flotilla Passengers Admitted to Israeli Hospitals\", June 4, 2010 at

http:\/\/www.freegaza.org\/en\/home\/56-news\/1206-54-flotilla-passengers-admitted-to-israeli-<\/a>

\"As a result of our petition, a list has been provided to Adalah with the names of hospitalized Flotilla passengers. Even with this list, it is still not possible to identify all of the passengers; authorities provided names in Hebrew and did not include ID numbers or countries of origin.\"

Adalah is the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

The massacre was prolonged and intense, and we first heard reports of 19-20 dead and 80 injured. So far, 9 bodies have been released. According to Al-Jazeera, June 4, 2010, \"Israel to Release Turkish Activists,\" at

http:\/\/english.aljazeera.net\/news\/middleeast\/2010\/06\/201064962648284.html<\/a>

they are:

Turkish victims

Ibrahim Bilgen

Ali Haydar Bengi

Cevdet Kiliçlar

Çetin Topçuoglu

Necdet Yildirim

Fahri Yaldiz

Cengiz Songür

Cengiz Akyüz

US victim

Furkan Dogan

The intensity of the massacre is described at

\"Gaza activist were 'shot every minute'\" , June 4, 2010,

http:\/\/gazafreedommarch.org\/cms\/en\/News\/View\/10-06-04\/Gaza_activist_were_shot_every_minute.aspx<\/a>

\"Israeli commandos shot passengers at the rate of one a minute during the bloody raid on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, a Briton on board the main vessel said.\"

\"He claimed the commandos had a \"shoot to kill\" policy during the initial phase of the attack on the Mavi Marmara, with live rounds being fired on the vessel from a helicopter hovering above.\"

\"Mr Patel said: \"We now can calculate that they shot one person every minute. One person was shot every minute. There were nine fatalities, over 48 people with gunshot wounds, six are unaccounted for.\"

\"Mr Patel said the initial assault was mounted from the water, with sound bombs, tear gas and stun grenades fired against the Mavi Marmara, but people on the vessel threw items overboard to repel the attack. Then the helicopter appeared overhead \"and started using immediately live ammunition\" without any warning being issued. After the first victim fell the white flag was raised, Mr Patel said, but Israeli forces continued firing and soldiers rappelled to the deck on ropes.\"

\"As the death toll mounted Mr Patel used the ship's public address system to call for a surrender. \"I spoke in English very calmly and said 'we are only civilians, we surrender' and requested my colleagues to sit down in their chairs, put their hands and legs on the tables and not to make any movement.\" But, he said: \"Despite our repeated calls the firing continued.\"

Here is another account of the beatings, dogs, electroshock weapons, tasers, ad nauseum used on unarmed civilian humanitarian workers. See \"EYEWITNESS: 'They were rough' - activist on Gaza aid convoy\", June 4, 2010 at

http:\/\/gazafreedommarch.org\/cms\/en\/News\/View\/10-06-04\/EYEWITNESS_They_were_rough_-_activist_on_Gaza_aid_convoy.aspx<\/a>

\"Huwaida Arraf, 34, is the Palestinian-American co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement and Chair of the Free Gaza Movement, which organised the aid flotilla that came under attack by the Israeli military on Monday.\"

\"One girl's face was bloodied. They grabbed me, wrestled me to the ground, and at one point smashed my head against the deck of the boat and one soldier had his boot on my head. They were trying to cuff my hands behind my back and at one point they dragged me to the front of the boat and put a bag over my head. We weren't shot at but we were being roughed up, and in 15 minutes maximum they took over the boat. They had guns. I know they're trying to say they didn't, but they had M16s.\"

\"They used violence to push me into a police van, literally pulling my hair, punching me, elbowing me in the face in order to subdue me, and then they drove outside the port and at some point stopped the van and pushed me out of it. When they opened the car to push me out I fell onto the ground.\" Huwaida woke up in hospital where she was kept for several hours and given medical checks.\"

Ms. Araf reported more of this horror show at Flashpoints, heard on KPFA, 94.1 FM at 5 p.m., June 2, 2010 at

http:\/\/www.flashpoints.net\/?p=1008<\/a>

and on Democracy Now, June 3, 2010, heard on KPFA 94.1 FM at 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and on the web at

http:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2010\/6\/3\/huwaida<\/a>

Here is another account from the British Guardian, June 1, 2010 at

http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/world\/2010\/jun\/01\/gaza-flotilla-eyewitness-accounts-gunfire<\/a>

And Kevin Ovenden from Viva Palestina, has this eyewitness account at

http:\/\/www.vivapalestinaarabia.org\/en\/news\/96-eyewitness-kevin-ovenden-from-the-freedom-flotilla-i-saw-people-shot<\/a>

\"The attack opened with percussion grenades. These don't just make a noise but send shockwaves of heavy vibration. They were trying to create terror and panic. They also used rubber coated bullets in the earlier stage. But very quickly they turned to live rounds and we were taking heavy casualties.\"

\"Nikki Enchmarch was on the top deck standing next to a Turkish man who was holding a camera. An Israeli soldier shot him in the middle of the forehead. It blew off the back of his skull and he died.\"

\"I was on the second deck. A man standing a metre in front of me was shot in the leg, the mane to the right of me in the abdomen. There was pandemonium and terror.\"<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/www.freegaza.org\/en\/home\/56-news\/1206-54-flotilla-passengers-admitted-to-israeli-","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"There was a shot every minute in the Israeli pirate attack on the Gaza Humanitarian Flotilla, with an entire hour of shooting and killing. At least six people remain unaccounted for. 54 people were admitted to Israeli hospitals where many have undergone surgery and are in intensive care. This massacre was paid for with US tax dollars. ","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2010\/06\/239986.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}