The Israeli air force is not allowing Turkish aircrafts to use the country's airspace to transport humanitarian aid to victims of the "Flotilla of Freedom" incident, the Turkish news website World Bulletin reported. Earlier this week, 19 people were killed and 30 were injured in a clash between the Israeli military and human rights activists aboard the vessels.
At an extraordinary meeting of the U.N. Security Council Monday night in New York, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said drastic measures must be taken to punish the perpetrators of such a tragic incident. Most of the causalities in the conflict were Turkish citizens.
Davutoglu said the Israeli authorities must apologize to the international community and the families of the victims for a crime committed in neutral waters, and also put an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has lasted more than three years.
In its turn, Israel has strongly denied all accusations. Israeli officials said their soldiers acted in self-defense.
According to the Western media, citizens of the United States, the UK, Australia, Greece, Canada, Malaysia, Algeria, Serbia, Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Germany were also on board the ships.