The world has reacted angrily to Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla. See what some of the main players have to say about the incident.
"The Australian government condemns any use of violence under the sorts of circumstances that we have seen. Furthermore, we are deeply concerned about the loss of life which has occurred." Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
"It [the raid] is murder committed by a state. It has no justification whatsoever." Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
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"It is very important that Israel acts with restraint and in line with international obligations in any case such as this." British Foreign Minister William Hague
"The president expressed deep regret at the loss of life in today's incident, and concern for the wounded, many of whom are being treated in Israeli hospitals… The president also expressed the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances around this morning's tragic events as soon as possible." Official White House statement
" We are working to ascertain the facts, and expect that the Israeli government will conduct a full and credible investigation." US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley
"The context is that Gaza has become a base for Hamas terrorists backed by Iran. They have fired thousands of rockets into Israel. They are amassing thousands more rockets to fire at our cities, at our towns, at our children… We told the flotilla of ships, we said, 'You can take all your cargo, put it in our port of Ashdod, we'll just ferret out if there are any war materials, and the rest will go through'. We succeeded in doing this peacefully with five of the six ships. The sixth ship, the largest, which had hundreds of people on it, not only did not cooperate in this effort peacefully, they deliberately attacked the first soldiers who came on the ship. They were mobbed, they were clubbed, they were beaten, stabbed, there was even a report of gunfire. And our soldiers had to defend themselves, defend their lives, or they would have been killed." Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
"We condemn this crime, taken against a humanitarian mission and people. They were trying to help people. They were not on a military mission. Everyone should condemn this." Arab League chief Amr Mussa
"I unequivocally condemn what appears to be disproportionate use of force, resulting in the killing and wounding of so many people attempting to bring much-needed aid to the people of Gaza, who have now been enduring a blockade for more than three years," Navi Pillay, UN human rights chief
"Given the large number of vessels participating in the flotilla, there was an operational need to undertake measures to enforce the blockade a certain distance from the area of the blockade, as permitted under international humanitarian law. It was the stated intention of the flotilla organizers in earlier television interviews that the primary goal of the action was to resist the blockade by any means possible. The purpose of the naval blockade is to protect Israeli citizens. Just last year 1,000 rockets were fired on Israeli citizens. These rockets are built from weaponry smuggled in to the Gaza Strip to be used by the terrorist organization Hamas. It is for this reason that Israel can not allow unchecked material to travel in to Gaza." Official statement from Israeli Embassy in Canberra
"It is imperative that Israel lifts the blockade of Gaza without delay, as it is a form of collective punishment in contravention of international law and primarily affects the most vulnerable among the population." Amnesty International Interim Secretary General Claudio Cordone
"I call on the [Turkish] government to expel the Israeli consul... And if necessary, we are ready for war," Seref Mangal, Turkish protester
