Sweden's foreign minister Carl Bildt has summoned the Israeli ambassador to explain reports that Israeli armed forces have boarded the "Freedom Flottila" ships heading to Gaza, killing at least ten people.
"We want a clarification over what has happened," Carl Bildt said to Sveriges Radio P1 over the reports that the ships belonging to the "Ship to Gaza" convoy, carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip, had been boarded by Israeli military forces.
"We know that there are Swedes on some of the ships and we want to know what has happened to them. There appears no reason to question media reports that a Turkish vessel has been boarded, that a fire fight occurred and that people have been killed," Bildt said.
The flotilla of ships, carrying a reported 600 people from around 50 different nations, left Cyprus on Sunday evening and was due to arrive close to Gaza on Monday morning. The convoy, loaded with 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid, was intercepted in international waters, 65 kilometres off the Gaza coast, by Israeli warships and helicopters.
A live feed broadcast from a Turkish registered ship in the convoy shows Israeli forces boarding the ship and opening fire at around 8pm. Israeli military sources have confirmed ten dead, but other reports indicate that the death toll could be as high as nineteen, with dozens more injured.
