Gaza ship activists deported from Israel

Israel has begun deporting more than 600 foreign activists whose accounts of a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla contradicted Israeli reports that its soldiers acted in self-defence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains steadfast in his defence of the Gaza blockade that the activists were trying to break and said the flotilla had been on a "terrorist operation".

As a possible confrontation with another aid ship loomed, British Prime Minister David Cameron took a tough stand against Monday's pre-dawn Israeli raid which killed nine activists, terming it "completely unacceptable".

The hundreds detained on the boats and diverted to Israel have all been released for deportation, prisons authority spokesman Yron Zamir said. They were all taken to Tel Aviv airport or the Jordanian border.

Flights home for the Turkish nationals kicked off with an ambulance plane from Turkey carrying two seriously wounded activists, an official source in Ankara said.

Other flights were to follow the same night to Turkey, where the activists were expected to be welcomed as heroes.

International condemnation

Most of the 28 activists being treated in Israeli hospital were also being deported, Physicians for Human Rights said.

Authorities 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.

Under widespread international condemnation, Israel retorted that the violence had been initiated by the activists, forcing its soldiers to use live fire in self defence.

"The soldiers who boarded the boat were attacked with knives and other weapons; they were fired upon," Netanyahu said. The activists "wanted to kill them; they wanted to lynch the soldiers," he insisted.

The military, however, said no weapons were found aside from knives, wooden batons and metal rods.

On their return home, many of the activists accused the Israelis of having opened fire without warning.

Nine activists killed

"Israeli commandos started shooting from the air without warning," Kuwaiti lawyer Mubarak al-Mutawa, who was on the main vessel, the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara, told reporters in Kuwait City.

But Netanyahu said: "This wasn't a love ship, it was a hate boat... This was not a peaceful operation, it was a terrorist operation."

He insisted the Israeli blockade was key in preventing weapons from reaching Gaza. "Hamas continues to arm itself and Iran continues to transfer weapons to Hamas," the premier said.

He also defended the commando raid, saying the "idea was to break the sea blockade. Had it been, tens, hundreds of ships would come later, and in each boat hundreds of rockets, missiles could be brought".

About 380 Turks were on the six-boat flotilla, and four of them were reportedly among the nine killed.

In Ankara, Turkey's parliament urged the government "to review our political, military and economic ties with Israel and take the necessary effective measures".

Ambassador recalled

Turkey has already recalled its ambassador from Israel and scrapped plans for joint military exercises, plunging already sour bilateral ties into deep crisis.

While the bloody showdown has dented Israel's international image, activists bent on running the Gaza blockade said another ship of Irish and Malaysian activists is heading toward 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 renewed an "urgent" appeal for the ship to be allowed to reach Gaza.

"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.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Hamas is not allowing Israel to deliver seized aid brought by the flotilla.