Israeli armed forces chief Gabi Ashkenazi on Wednesday defended his troops' use of lethal fire when they stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May, killing nine pro-Palestinian activists.
Giving sworn testimony to a five-member Israeli commission of inquiry, Ashenazi said the naval commandos who rappelled onto the deck of the ship only opened fire after a soldier was shot by one of the activists.
"Today it is clear to us that as soon as the first soldier had descended to the ship, the second soldier was shot," he told the panel in a public session of the hearing. "The soldiers opened fire only where necessary."
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He said the second soldier to land opened fire after being shot in the stomach.
"He simply pulled out his gun and shot the shooter," Askenazi said.
No guns were found aboard the ship but the military has previously said that activists seized at least one firearm from the soldiers during the clashes and that it found evidence of a gun not used by Israeli soldiers.
Ashkenazi rejected Turkish charges that some of the dead had been shot "execution-style" at point-blank range, saying that shots had been fired at close range as part of a life or death struggle.
"There was an instance when a soldier was being attacked with an axe," he said. "Somebody with an axe...that is life-threatening."
