Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and UN chief Ban Ki-moon have discussed plans for an international inquiry into the May 31 raid, which Israel says are 'better left on the shelf'.
"I shared with the secretary general our views about his expectation to establish an international inquiry into the recent incident and we expressed our view that for the time being, as long as those new flotillas are in preparation, it's probably better to leave it on the shelf for a certain time," Barak said.
"We are moving ahead with our independent investigation which we believe is clearly independent, reliable, credible and should be allowed to work," he said.
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Warning to new flotillas
Barak renewed his country's warning Monday against any new activist aid flotilla that might try to sail into Gaza from Lebanon.
"About the coming flotilla, we've heard in the media that some organization, probably backed by a terror organization, (is) once again trying to send a vessel into Gaza," Barak told reporters after meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
"I should tell everyone that we think it's a bit irresponsible to do that," he said.
"It's well known that we ask all of them, as we asked the previous flotilla, to join us and go through (the Israeli port) Ashdod and we cannot accept someone who will try to just sail directly to Gaza."
Barak said Lebanon would be "responsible for whatever vessels or ships coming from its ports and responsible for whatever people are taken with them and boarding those ships."
The comments represented the latest warning from Israel over any effort to circumvent its blockade of Gaza despite international pressure in the wake of a May 31 Israeli commando raid that killed nine Turkish activists aboard a flotilla of aid ships on a blockade-busting bid.
Hezbollah 'plans flotilla'
Israeli media have said that the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah might be planning to mission to send materials into Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, the Palestinian territory's Islamist rulers. Israel argues that Hamas is seeking weapons from the aid missions.
Hezbollah on Friday denied reports it was backing an all-women aid flotilla planning to sail from Lebanon to Gaza, saying it did not want to give Israel a pretext to attack the activists.

