An emergency Security Council meeting was called on Monday. “It was called by Turkey, and Lebanon now is the president of the Council,” said RT correspondent Marina Portnaya. “Condemnations from various countries around the world have been voiced against Israel for this attack. Lebanon called the attack ‘a massacre’ and called for immediate investigation.”

“I imagine that at this point they are pushing for a presidential statement,” Portnaya added. “A statement that the Security Council can read out in a few hours or so, but all the members of the Security Council need to agree on this text. … The White House released a statement saying it deeply regrets the lost of life and injuries that have been sustained and the White House is currently working on understanding the circumstances of what took place, so Washington did stop short of using any harsh rhetoric.”

Representatives of the European Union on Monday condemned the acts of violence and excessive use of force.

“In this regard on behalf of the EU, the High Representative is requesting a full immediate inquiry by the Israeli authorities,” said John Clansy, EU Commission for development and humanitarian aid. “The continued policy of closure of Gaza is unacceptable and politically counterproductive,” he added. “The EU reiterates its call for an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings in Gaza for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza.”

Political commentator Doctor Asad Abu Sharekh from Gaza thinks the US, as Israel’s primary ally, is no less responsible for the attack on the aid mission.

“Unfortunately, Israel was given a green light by the Americans,” Abu Sharekh told RT. “Otherwise they would not have dared to attack these peaceful ships in international waters. This is why we call upon the whole world, we call upon Russia, we call upon superpowers, we call upon United Nations, the peoples of the world to put pressure on America, on Western countries in order to bring Israel to account and to impose sanctions on Israel and to bring Israeli generals to accountability for the crimes they committed.”

Mustafa al-Bargothi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, believes there can be no doubts about who shot first.

“I think this is a silly question to ask who attacked first,” al-Bargothi told RT. “These people were peaceful people, with no military weapons, with nothing to defend themselves in ships in international waters. It was the Israeli army who came to them with helicopters, Israeli navy military ships, and attacked them. It’s so obvious and so clear… What Israel has done is an act of piracy, a serious violation of international law…This is equal to an act of declaration of war. And more than that, Israel attacked civilian people, non-violent people, peaceful people who had no weapons to defend themselves with and killed twenty of them.”

Wisam Ahmad, a spokesman for the Al Haq human rights organization in Ramallah in the West Bank, says that any aid to Gaza is desperately needed.

“The people of Gaza are getting approximately only 25% of what they need to be able to live,” Ahmad told RT. “And the Israeli occupation, the population is under siege, allowing them to barely maintain the minimum standard for survival.”

“We have field workers on the ground in Gaza that describe a very horrendous situation,” Ahmad stated. “And it just continues to deteriorate with every passing day, and every bit of aid is needed. And what must be remembered is these aid groups and flotilla should be commended for their activities, because they are stepping into the shoes of the international community, which has the responsibility to step up and break this siege that is holding the entire population in Gaza in prison.”

As a reaction to the events, protesters in Istanbul attempted to storm the Israeli embassy.

Anger is mounting over what many have called the disproportionate use of violence against a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza.

Murat Cicek, news manager from the News 24 Channel, spoke with RT about this issue.

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Source: Russia Today