15 May 2013

Inquiry into Israeli raid on flotilla launched

11:06 am on 15 May 2013

The International Criminal Court says it will open a preliminary examination into the Israeli raid on a flotilla of ships carrying aid towards Gaza in 2010 in which nine people died.

The court prosecutor says a referral from the Comoros Islands, the Indian Ocean territory to which one of the boats was registered, obliges her to open the case.

The boats were trying to transport aid supplies to Gaza in May 2010, the BBC reports.

The Free Gaza Flotilla, which had more than 600 pro-Palestinian activists aboard several ships, was trying to break Israel's naval blockade.

The activists were killed when Israeli commandos boarded the lead flotilla vessel, Mavi Marmara.