Hamas: U.N. Inquiry Into Israel Flotilla Raid 'Unjust'
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas said Thursday that a U.N.-mandated inquiry into a deadly Israeli raid on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza was "unjust" and lacked balance.
The inquiry into the Turkish-led aid flotilla said Israel's commando raid in 2010 was "excessive," according to extracts published by the New York Times newspaper.
"The UN. report into the Israeli attack on the (Turkish ferry) Mavi Marmara is unjust and unbalanced. It will allow the (Israeli) occupier to shirk its responsibilities," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Agence France Presse in Gaza City.
Eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish descent died in the May 31, 2010 raid by Israeli special forces on the six vessels in international waters.
Senior Israeli officials said they would not react to the Palmer Report -- named after New Zealand's former premier Geoffrey Palmer, who headed the U.N. inquiry, until its official publication.
Israel's Gisha human rights group said "the Palmer Report missed the opportunity to re-evaluate the entire policy of the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has still not been lifted."
The report backed Israel over its blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza. "We have made it clear that we consider that Israel was entitled to impose the naval blockade. It follows that Israel was also entitled to enforce it."
It added: "The manner of its enforcement, however, raises serious issues of concern."
Source: Agence France Presse
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