Before the expected publication of the UN report on the Israeli attack on a humanitarian flotilla for Gaza in 2010, Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador and suspended military cooperation with the Jewish state.
Ankara, as Turkish media reported on Thursday, set the date of publication of the UN report as the deadline for Israel to apologize for the attack.
Although the UN report on the May 2010 incident will not be released officially until this afternoon, an unnamed Israeli official who had the opportunity to see the report said it showed that Israel's actions were in accordance with international law.
Jerusalem said it would not apologize to Turkey, as the report did not call for it, instead suggesting that Israel should express regret and pay compensation to the families of the victims. The mentioned Israeli official also said that his country hopes that the two countries can now "return to the cooperation that was the cornerstone of regional stability."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, according to Huriyet and Zaman newspapers, that "the date when the UN report is expected to be published is the deadline." "If there is no apology by then, we will launch plan B," Davutoglu said, without giving details of what eventual measures are involved.
Relations between Turkey and Israel, once close, have been significantly damaged after the attack on a humanitarian flotilla carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007. Then nine humanitarians of Turkish nationality were killed.
The UN report, according to a copy provided to The New York Times, states that "Turkey and Israel should continue full diplomatic relations, to improve relations in the interest of stability in the Middle East, but also international peace and stability."
An Israeli investigation into the humanitarian flotilla incident found that the government did nothing wrong, and that the armed defense of Israel's naval blockade of Gaza was justified under international law.
The Turkish committee, which also conducted the investigation, rejected, however, Israel's claims of self-defense and pointed out that Israeli soldiers used "excessive" force against unarmed civilians.
The UN report, according to the New York Times, accepts Israel's position that the naval blockade was a "legitimate security measure" because the country "faces a real threat to its security from extremist groups from Gaza."
Although the UN report on the incident will not be released officially until this afternoon, an unnamed Israeli official who had the opportunity to see the report said it showed that Israel's actions were in accordance with international law.
It added that members of the flotilla "reacted recklessly in an attempt to break through the naval blockade". According to the report, most of the passengers were peaceful, but a small group prepared for organized resistance.
Those passengers, it added, were "armed with steel bars, clubs, chains and slings, and there are indications that they also had knives."
After Israeli soldiers descended from a helicopter on the deck of a ship, the report states, "three soldiers were caught, harassed and their lives were threatened by the said passengers, and several were wounded."
The report, however, acknowledged that Israel's use of force was "excessive and unreasonable." "Israel did not provide the UN panel (which conducted the report) with any satisfactory explanation for the nine deaths," according to part of the report cited by the New York Times.
The UN stated that "forensic reports showed that most of those killed were shot multiple times, including those killed from behind and at close range." A senior Israeli government official said that the soldiers killed those aid workers who attacked other soldiers from behind.
Gallery
Bonus video:
