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(CNN) -- The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday called for a "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent" investigation into a raid by Israeli forces on a convoy of six ships carrying humanitarian goods bound for Gaza.

In a statement, the 15 member-nations of the council said it regretted the loss of lives on the flotilla and condemned the actions that led to the deaths on Monday.

"The Security Council deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force during the Israeli military operation in international waters against the convoy sailing to Gaza," the council said in a statement.

"The council in this context condemns those acts which resulted in the loss of at least 10 civilians and expresses condolences to the families."

How has the world reacted to the raid?

It is not exactly clear how many people died in the pre-dawn rain by the Israeli military. Israel put the number at nine, but did not release the names of those who died.

The Free Gaza Movement, one of the groups that organized the convoy of ships, said the fatalities numbered higher, but did not offer an exact number.
Video: U.N. condemns Israel's actions
Video: Israel says attack was justified
Video: Israel criticized for attack on flotilla
Map: Gaza flotilla intercepted
RELATED TOPICS

* Israel
* Gaza
* Turkey
* Hamas

After an emergency session that began Monday afternoon at the U.N. Headquarters in New York and continued into early Tuesday, the council requested the immediate release of the seized ships, as well as the civilians who were taken into custody following the raid.

Hours later, Israel said that 600 activists were transported to Beer Sheva prison in southern Israel. Forty-five of them have been released and were either deported or on their way to Ben Gurion International Airport.

Those who remain detained are ones who have refused to identify themselves to Israeli immigration authorities, an Israeli Prison Authority spokesman told CNN. None have been placed under arrest, he said.

Among the ones who have refused to give their names are many foreigners, a police spokesman said. The process involved in deporting these latter protesters is more complicated as it requires the involvement of foreign diplomats, police said.

Q&A: Aid and Israel's Gaza blockade

Ireland's Foreign Affairs Minister, Micheal Martin, called for the immediate release of seven Irish citizens who were on board the flotilla.

"The seven individuals concerned did not enter Israel illegally; rather they were essentially seized from international waters, taken into Israel and asked to sign documents confirming that they entered illegally. This is simply not acceptable," Martin said.

Meanwhile, both the Free Gaza Movement and Turkish authorities said that the detained passengers were being held incommunicado.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Selim Yenel said Israel has not allowed direct communication either in person or by phone between the detainees and the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv. Also, Yenel said, the Israelis weren't sharing information about the identities of the dead.

"The Israelis told us they have difficulty in finding their identities, because they don't have identification on them," Yenel said.

Turkey said it was dispatching three planes to bring back 20 citizens who were passengers aboard the ships and were wounded in the raid.

Meanwhile, Israel said the goods that the convoy was carrying was being sent to their intended destination in Gaza. Palestinian officials confirmed that five trucks were allowed into Gaza, carrying wheelchairs.

Also Tuesday, protesters in several major cities planned to take to the streets in anger. Two such rallies were scheduled in New York and Chicago, Illinois. About a thousand people from an Islamic hardline group rallied peacefully in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Tuesday.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a pre-scheduled meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Why the raid will cause headaches for the United States

Davotoglu has called the raid "murder conducted by a state." But the Obama administration response has been more tempered.

President Barack Obama expressed "deep regret" at the deaths and "also expressed the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances around this morning's tragic events as soon as possible," the White House said Monday.

That did not impress Turkey's ambassador to the United States, Namik Tan, who called the U.S. response "sort of weak."

"Israel should not get away with this," Tan said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a scheduled meeting with Obama this week to return to Israel to manage the crisis.

The Freedom Flotilla was organized by the Free Gaza Movement, a Cyprus-based human rights group, and the pro-Palestinian Turkish organization, Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH).

The flotilla of six ships -- three passenger and three cargo vessels -- left Cyprus on Sunday, carrying more than 10,000 tons of aid and about 600 passengers from more than 20 countries, the Movement said. The activists said they wanted to raise awareness of "the illegal siege of Gaza" by Israel.

Israel instituted a blockade on Gaza in January 2006, when Hamas won democratic elections in the Palestinian territories. It tightened that blockade in June 2007, when Hamas took over Gaza, but allows about 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid into the territories each week, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said.

Since then, Israel has controlled entry of all manner of goods into Gaza, including instant coffee, chocolate and construction materials. Israel has said the latter could be used by Hamas to build bunkers.

The country says the Gaza shoreline is closed to maritime traffic to stop the smuggling of arms into the territory.

The Turkish prime minister said Monday that the vessels in the flotilla were inspected before they left port in Turkey to make sure the cargo did not include weapons.

The Israeli government described the flotilla as a "provocation," and had said it would allow the aid on the flotilla through its normal channels: unload it at Ashdod port and transfer it to Gaza.

"The organizers' intent was violent, their method was violent and the results were unfortunately violent," said Danny Ayalon, the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister.

Since the summer of 2008, five flotillas have gotten through the blockade to deliver humanitarian goods to Gaza. Monday's flotilla was expected to be the largest such mission.

But in a pre-dawn raid Monday, Israeli soldiers rappelled onto the deck of the ships from a helicopter. The boarding of the ships took place in international waters more than 70 nautical miles (130 km) outside Israeli territorial waters, according to IHH.

While the activists in five of the ships peacefully surrendered, the Israel government said soldiers faced violent resistance as they boarded the largest ship, the Mavi Marmara. The soldiers opened fire in self-defense, Israel said. Seven soldiers were wounded, it said.

The Free Gaza Movement denies there was violent resistance to Israeli soldiers, saying the soldiers immediately opened fire on unarmed civilians.

The Israeli military released a video shot from above the ship that it said showed soldiers being attacked, though the distance from which it was shot precluded immediate confirmation.

Most of the passengers in the ships were Turkish, as were most of the fatalities.

As many as nine Americans may have been aboard the boats at the time of the attack -- including Edward Peck, a former U.S. ambassador to Mauritania, according to Jonathan Slevin, a spokesman for the activist group Free Palestine Movement.

The attack sparked protests in several countries; caused a diplomatic row between Israel and Turkey, its closest Muslim ally; and brought condemnation worldwide.

Raid sparks demonstrations around the world.

Source: News

Posted by Jessie James