The following are selected statements made in response to the Israeli attack on the civilian ships:
Statement from the Turkish foreign ministry
The interception on the convoy is unacceptable ... Israel will have to bear the consequences of its actions.
We strongly condemn it and await an immediate explanation.
By targeting innocent civilians, Israel has once again clearly displayed that does not value human lives and peaceful initiatives.
We forcefully condemn these inhumane activities by Israel.
The incident that occurred in open sea which is a gross breach of international law, could cause irrevocable consequences for our relations.
We wish to express our condolences to the bereaved families of the deceased, and swift recovery to the wounded.
Ismail Haniya, Hamas leader in Gaza
The government of Hamas call on Palestinians to carry out a total strike in Gaza and West Bank to show solidarity and protest the Israeli crimes.
We request emergency session for the UN Security Council, Arab League and Islamic Conference and we demand the Palestinian Authority to stop all forms of negotiations.
The government decided to grant those on board Freedom ships the medal of honour.
We appeal to the UN to withdraw from the Quartet.
The government has decided to name the May 31 "the freedom day". We demand the Arab League to carry out all decisions to stop the siege of Gaza.
We say to those heroes that the essence of your honourable blood has reached us before the aids you are carrying to us.
We salute everyone on board the Freedom ships.
Salam Fayad, Palestinian prime minister
Israel went beyond all that could be expected.
This [attack] is a transgression against all international covenants and norms and it must be confronted by all international forums.
Statement from the Palestinian presidency
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemns the crime perpetrated by the occupation authorities against international solidarity activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla.
The Palestinian leadership is closely following the developments and the President calls on the United Nations to confront Israel, which is disregarding all international laws and norms.
The attack on the Flotilla is an attack against humanity.
This incident will have grave consequences in the region and the world.
Statement from the Arab League
Secretary General Amr Moussa has called for an emergency meeting at the League's headquarters in Cairo on June 1.
The attack clearly shows Israel's aggressive nature and its disrespect to international and humanitarian rules and laws.
We call on the international community to take immediate steps against Israel, a rogue state that practices all forms of terrorism and piracy, and instigates tension and instability in the region and in the middle of the Mediterranean sea.
Saad Hariri, Lebanese prime minister
The Israeli attack on the aid convoy is a dangerous and crazy step that will exacerbate tensions in the region.
Lebanon firmly denounces this attack and calls on the international community, notably major powers ... to take action in order to end this continued violation of human rights and threat to international peace.
Spokesperson for EU's foreign policy chief
High Representative Catherine Ashton expresses her deep regret at the news of loss of life and violence and extends her sympathies to families of the dead and wounded.
On behalf of the European Union she demands a full enquiry about the circumstances in which this happened.
The continued policy of closure is unacceptable and politically counter-productive. She calls for an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of the crossing for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza.
Guido Westerwelle, German foreign minister
I am deeply concerned about the events last night in the waters off Gaza ... These are disconcerting initial reports.
The foreign ministry is now working to establish the full facts of what happened.
Diego Lopez Garrido, Spain's secretary of state for EU affairs
The Israeli storming of a flotilla of activist ships heading for Gaza is unacceptable and very serious event.
We have have summoned the Israeli ambassador [to Spain] to give us explanations and, of course, we will investigate and will start handling this matter immediately.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian president
The attack was an] inhuman Zionist regime action against Gazans.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Emir of Qatar
The Israeli act of piracy against Arab and foreign activists who tried to break an non humanitarian unjust siege imposed on our fellow citizens in Gaza Strip, for no reason but they exercised their democratic right of choice.
The crimes purportrated this morning against the civilians supporting the Palestinians remind us of the unjust siege the open bleeding wound in the Strip; and all those who preach freedom, justice and democracy are required now to move and act to break this siege so the bloods of those free men do not go down the drains.
This is also message addressed to the Arab states who were brought to the moment of justice by those free men on board.
Micheal Martin, Irish foreign affairs minister
I am gravely concerned at the reports emerging of the storming of a Turkish ship this morning by Israeli commandos.
My department is seeking to establish the full facts of what has occurred and confirm the safety of the eight Irish nationals who sailed with the Turkish-led flotilla.
The reports of up to 15 people killed and 50 injured, if confirmed, would constitute a totally unacceptable response by the Israeli military to what was a humanitarian mission attempting to deliver much needed supplies to the people of Gaza.
Statement from Britain's Stop The War Coalition
The action should see Israel condemned under international law.
Israel has repeatedly flouted law and public opinion worldwide in its treatment of the Palestinians.
The decision by Israel to attack the flotilla with such loss of human life shows it is arrogant and deadly intent in opposing any aid to the Palestinians.
Navi Pillay, UN high commissioner for human rights
I am shocked by reports that humanitarian aid was met with violence early this morning reportedly causing death and injury as the boat convoy approached the Gaza coast.
The blockade keeps undermining human rights on a daily basis.
The current situation falls far short of what is necessary for the population to lead normal and dignified lives.
I condemn once again the indiscriminate firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel.
Franco Frattini, Italian foreign minister
Italy deplores the loss of civilian life in Israel's raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza.
Statement from the UN Relief and Works Agency
We are shocked by reports of killings and injuries of people on board boats carrying supplies for Gaza, apparently in international waters.
Such tragedies are entirely avoidable if Israel heeds the repeated calls of the international community to end its counterproductive and unacceptable blockade of Gaza.
William Hague, British foreign secretary
I deplore the loss of life during the interception of the Gaza Flotilla. Our embassy is in urgent contact with the Israeli government. We are asking for more information and urgent access to any UK nationals involved.
We have consistently advised against attempting to access Gaza in this way, because of the risks involved. But at the same time, there is a clear need for Israel to act with restraint and in line with international obligations. It will be important to establish the facts about this incident, and especially whether enough was done to prevent deaths and injuries.
This news underlines the need to lift the restrictions on access to Gaza, in line with UN Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1860. The closure is unacceptable and counter-productive.
There can be no better response from the international community to this tragedy than to achieve urgently a durable resolution to the Gaza crisis.
I call on the government of Israel to open the crossings to allow unfettered access for aid to Gaza, and address the serious concerns about the deterioration in the humanitarian and economic situation and about the effect on a generation of young Palestinians.
Vatican decries Israeli raid on 'Freedom Flotilla'
The Vatican has expressed intense concern about the Israeli raid on the "Freedom Flotilla" headed for the Gaza Strip on May 31.
Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, decried the "needless loss of lives" in the attack, which left at least 20 people dead and others wounded.
Reminding reporters that Pope Benedict XVI will soon be traveling to the Middle East for a pastoral visit to Crete, Father Lombardi said that the Pontiff will follow the latest crisis there with great care.
While outraged protestors in Turkey demonstrated outside the Israeli embassy to denounce the violent attack on the Freedom Flotilla (which had sailed from Turkey), supporters of Israel said that the ships deliberately provoked Israeli action by defying that country's embargo on shipments to Gaza. Davis Harris, the executive director of the American Jewish Committee, charged that "violent clashes are exactly what the international supporters of Hamas must have been seeking."
Cynthia McKinney Mourns the Dead of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: People of U.S. & World Must End Israeli Impunity!
I am outraged at Israel's latest criminal act. I mourn with my fellow Free Gaza travelers, the lives that have been lost by Israel's needless, senseless act against unarmed humanitarian activists. But I'm even more outraged that once again, Israel's actions have been aided and abetted by a U.S. political class that has become corrupted beyond belief due to its reliance on Zionist finance and penetration by Zionist zealots for whom no U.S. weapons system is too much for the Israeli war machine, and the silence of the world's onlookers whose hearts have grown cold with indifference.
I recently visited the offices of IHH, the Turkish humanitarian organization that sponsored one of the Freedom Flotilla boats, and that was targeted by the Israelis for its murderous rampage. Reports are still coming in as to the full extent of the senseless Israeli violence. Of course, I expect Israel's apologists in the press and in the United States government to shift into high gear to support Israel's lying machine. Take note of their names. The 12,000 internet squatters/written word grenade throwers, hired by the Israeli Foreign Ministry to defend Israel and attack peace activists online, are already busy spreading their orchestrated disinformation in cyberspace. Be very careful what you read and believe from special interest press and the internet. You could be reading one of Israel's hired hacks. As a news diversion from what Israel has just done, I suspect that we can also expect to see a lot of historical footage of war's atrocities on television: today is Memorial Day in the United States, a day long ago set aside to remember the sacrifices of U.S. war dead.
I encouraged and supported U.S.S. Liberty veteran Joe Meadors's participation in the Freedom Flotilla. Unfortunately, the fate of the U.S.S. Liberty innocents on the high seas, while in international waters, has now been visited upon the participants in the Freedom Flotilla, in large measure because of the Congressional- and Presidential-level cover-up of the 1967 Israeli attack on that U.S. surveillance ship. Combined with the failure of just about every other effort to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, and crimes against the peace. Belgium and Spain changed their domestic laws of universal jurisdiction after Israeli appeals to do so. The entire musical chairs gang of rotating Israeli leadership are war criminals. During my imprisonment in Israel for attempting to take crayons to the children of Gaza, I called Israel a failed state. If Israel is threatened by unarmed, humanitarian activists to the point of massacring them, then Israel is a failed state. Israel is a failed nuclear state.
Obama's most recent granting of an additional $205 million for Israeli "missile defense" is unconscionable, when in the same week, reports revealed for the first time, Israel's offer of nuclear weapons to apartheid South Africa. Just last week, a paper bearing the signature of former Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, was released by South Africa, revealing that in 1975, Israel could offer South Africa nuclear weapons "in three sizes." South Africa's then-Minister of Defense, P.W. Botha, was South Africa's signatory to the letter. This information would make the entire Obama Administration look sadly farcical as it points an accusing finger at Iran, except that U.S. obeisance to the Israeli bloodthirst is deadly serious. With deadly outcomes.
Earlier this month, Israel was granted admission to the Organization of Economic and Community Development (OECD), a direct affront to ongoing Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) efforts across the world. Once again, Israel has thumbed its nose at the global community--with bloody results--because it can.
I am proud to serve on the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Palestine. Its next sitting will be in London, where we will examine corporate complicity in Israel's crimes against Palestine. The Tribunal will sit from November 5 - 7. Please put this on your calendar. We all must do what we can, where we are to end wars against the people at home and wars against human rights abroad.
Finally, a friend just sent a message to me saying that the Israelis had lost their minds. Sadly, based on the past, the Israelis could very well conclude that they can do anything--imprison me for trying to take love to the children of Gaza and kill humanitarian activists trying to do the same--because they know, in the end, they'll get away with it. Instead, I would suggest that we are the ones who have lost our minds, our souls, our spirits, and our human dignity if we allow the Israelis to get away with murder--again--and we do nothing.
I am calling on the people of the United States to change course now.
On this Memorial Day 2010, I am stunned and outraged beyond belief while mourning the dead of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza.
Greta Berlin, Free Gaza Movement Spokesperson:
"It's disgusting that they have come on board and attacked civilians. We are civilians. How could the Israeli military attack civilians like this? Do they think that because they can attack Palestinians indiscriminately they can attack anyone?" (BBC)
Navi Pillay, The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
"I am shocked by reports that humanitarian aid was met with violence early this morning, reportedly causing death and injury as the boat convoy approached the Gaza coast .. the [Gaza] blockade keeps undermining human rights on a daily basis .. The current situation falls far short of what is necessary for the population to lead normal and dignified lives." (Press TV)
Amr Moussa, Arab League Secretary-General:
"The Arab League strongly condemns this terrorist act." (BBC)
Ismail Haniyeh, democratically-elected Prime Minister of Palestine:
"The Palestinian government honors the convoy's effort to break the siege. We consider all of the killed as Palestinian martyrs, martyrs of the siege on Gaza." (Press TV)
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran:
"The inhuman action of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people and preventing the humanitarian aid from reaching Gazans does not show this regime's strength, but is a sign of its weakness, and all this brings this sinister and fake regime closer than ever to its end."
(BBC)
Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's reporter in Jerusalem:
"All the images being shown from the activists on board those ships show clearly that they were civilians and peaceful in nature, with medical supplies on board. So it will surprise many in the international community to learn what could have possibly led to this type of confrontation." (Aljazeera)
Turkish Foreign Ministry:
"(The interception on the convoy) is unacceptable ... Israel will have to endure the consequences of this behavior." (Agencies and Aljazeera)
Mark Regev, Israeli Prime Minister's Spokesperson:
"Though our naval servicemen were instructed to exercise maximum restraint, they were attacked. They were attacked with knives, with iron clubs, and also with live fire. We have unfortunately 10 servicemen injured, one of them very, very seriously. The violence was initiated unfortunately by these activists, and this is regrettable." (BBC)
Senior UN Officials Report Serry and Filippo Grandi:
"We are shocked by reports of killings and injuries of people on board boats carrying supplies for Gaza, apparently in international waters. We condemn the violence and call for it to stop. The situation is still ongoing and we are awaiting confirmation of what has happened. We wish to make clear that such tragedies are entirely avoidable if Israel heeds the repeated calls of the international community to end its counterproductive and unacceptable blockade of Gaza." (BBC)
Ramzy Baroud, Palestinian-US journalist and author of My Father was a Freedom Fighter, Gaza's Untold Story:
"What Israel has done tonight is most barbaric. It's an unmitigated crime against humanity and no one with a living conscious and a shred of humanity can stand idle as a sophisticated army attacks and slaughters international peace activists carrying medicine and toys while on their way to supporting a besieged nation. However, the murder of those activists, and the wounding and the arrest of hundreds will forever cement the ties between Palestine and international peace and justice forces the world over. Starting tonight, this conflict is no longer Israel vs. Palestine, but a criminal state vs. humanity." (PalestineChronicle.com)
Uri Avnery, Israeli journalist:
"This night a crime was perpetrated in the middle of the sea, by order of the government of Israel and the IDF Command A warlike attack against aid ships and deadly shooting at peace and humanitarian aid activists It is a crazy thing that only a government that crossed all red lines can do." (Gush Shalom)
Mahmoud Abbas, acting Palestinian President:
"What Israel has committed on board the Freedom Flotilla was a massacre." (Wafa news agency)
A spokesperson for Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief:
"The official "expresses her deep regret at the news of loss of life and violence and extends her sympathies to families of the dead and wounded. On behalf of the European Union she demands a full inquiry about the circumstances in which this happened. ... She calls for an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of the crossing for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza." (Associated Press)
Daniel Ayalon, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister:
"The armada of hate and violence in support of [the] Hamas terror organisation was a premeditated and outrageous provocation. The organisers are well known for their ties with global jihad, al-Qaeda and Hamas. They have a history of arms smuggling and deadly terror." (BBC)
Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas's Spokesman:
"We in Hamas consider the Israeli attack on the freedom flotilla as a great crime and a huge violation of international law. In spite of the great harm suffered by the people who joined this flotilla, we consider that their message has been delivered. Thanks to these heroes from other countries who showed their solidarity with Gaza, the Israeli siege is now an international issue and we consider that the occupiers, through this crime, are the ones under siege now." (BBC)
Bernard Kouchner, French Foreign Minister:
"I am profoundly shocked by the tragic consequences of the Israeli military operation against the peace flotilla for Gaza. Nothing can justify the use of violence such as this, which we condemn. The circumstances of this drama must be fully brought to light and we wish for a thorough inquiry to be put in place without delay." (BBC)