Hundreds of activists from the Gaza-bound aid flotilla seized by Israeli commandos arrived in Turkey Thursday, as Israel’s prime minister denounced some of them as “violent supporters of terrorism.”

A crowd of about a thousand people, some chanting anti-Israeli slogans, welcomed the three planes carrying 488 activists at Istanbul airport as they arrived in the small hours of the morning.

The planes were also carrying the bodies of nine activists killed when Israeli commandos took control of the six aid vessels in Monday’s pre-dawn operation, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told journalists at the airport.

Israel has identified four of the dead as Turkish nationals, but there has been no word yet as to the identity or nationality of the others.

An unidentified Turkish activist, who was expelled from Israel, is taken to a hospital in Ankara after arriving from Israel.

One of the new arrivals, a Turkish national of about 50 who refused to give his name, told cameras at the airport that he had been astonished at the brutality of the Israeli commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara.

The Turkish vessel was the largest of the six vessels in the aid convoy and it was here that the deadly clashes took place.

Earlier Wednesday, Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag was on hand at a military base near Ankara to receive two seriously wounded activists, one Turkish and one an Irish national, as they flew in from Israel.

In Israel however, Netanyahu hit back at the international condemnation of the operation.

Since the activists had refused offers from both Israel and Egypt to deliver the aid to Gaza once it had been inspected, they had been left with no choice but to board the vessels, said the prime minister.

Israel’s forces had met violent resistance only on the Mavi Marmara, he added. “They were stabbed, they were clubbed, they were fired upon…

“This was not a love boat. This was a hate boat. These weren’t pacifists. These weren’t peace activists. These were violent supporters of terrorism.”

Organisers of the so-called “Freedom Flotilla” have denied the Israeli account, saying the soldiers had started firing as soon as they landed.

And they say Irish and Malaysian activists are on another aid ship heading towards Gaza despite the potential for more violence.

The Rachel Corrie, carrying building supplies, is in the Mediterranean, and organisers say it will be several days before it arrives in Gaza.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin urged Israel to let them through.

“It is imperative that there should be no further confrontation or bloodshed arising from what has been all along a purely humanitarian mission by those involved in the Gaza flotilla,” he said.

Israel rushed to deport the activists after Turkey, in talks with the United States, warned of fresh measures against the Jewish state.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters he had asked US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to intervene during their meeting in Washington Tuesday.

“No one has the right to prosecute people kidnapped in international waters,” he said.

Turkey has already recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv and scrapped plans for joint military exercises.

Netanyahu, in his statement, argued that if aid convoys were allowed into Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamist Hamas movement, they would become a conduit for rockets and other weapons to be used against Israel.

“Israel regrets the loss of life,” he said.

“But we will never apologize for defending ourselves. Israel has every right to prevent deadly weapons from entering into hostile territory.”

UN chief Ban Ki-moon nevertheless renewed his call for Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, describing it as “counter-productive, unsustainable and wrong.”

The UN secretary-general also said that Israel should provide a “full and detailed account” of the commando raid.

Arab League foreign ministers meanwhile, decided to force the issue.

At a five-hour emergency meeting in Cairo late Wednesday League members decided to “break and to defy the Israeli blockade by every means,” Secretary General Amr Mussa told reporters.

The ministers welcomed Egypt’s decision Wednesday to open its Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip Wednesday, to allow travel and the delivery of humanitarian aid. It is the only access point to Gaza not controlled by Israel.

Israeli officials said 682 people from 42 countries, with Turks the most numerous, were on board the six ships that tried to break the blockade of Gaza, which is ruled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

Of that total, 527 had flown out to Greece and Turkey overnight, said a foreign ministry spokesman late Wednesday.

Seven activists wounded in Monday’s clashes were still being treated in an Israeli hospital, he added.

Three others — an Irishman and two women from Australia and Italy — remained in Israel “for technical reasons,” he added, without elaborating.

Others were deported earlier.

In Greece meanwhile, a plane carrying 31 Greek activists from the aid convoy, together with three French nationals and an American, flew into Athens airport in the early hours of Thursday, the foreign ministry said.

Source: SGGP