Eight months after Israeli commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian activists on board a Gaza-bound Turkish ship, Israel's political and military leadership were bracing themselves Sunday for the findings of an Israeli probe into the incident, dpa reported.
The public commission of inquiry headed by retired Israeli supreme court judge Jacob Turkel submitted its findings to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the early afternoon.
It was expected to make its conclusions an hour later, with Turkel reading the report to journalists.
But according to leaks in the Israeli press, the report is expected to largely exonerate the conduct of the Israeli military. If that happens, Turkey and other members of the international community are likely to quickly dismiss the findings as a white-wash.
Netanyahu appointed the commission, which includes two foreign observers - Northern Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lord David Trimble and Canadian former judge advocate general Kenneth W. Watkin - two weeks after the Israel Navy overpowered the Turkish Mavi Marmara in international waters off the coast of Gaza on May 31.
The Israeli naval commandos shot dead eight Turks and an American of Turkish descent.
The activists accused the Israelis of indiscriminately opening fire with no justified reason as soon as they repelled onto the ship from helicopters.
Israel accused a group of several dozen "extremist" activists among the hundreds on board of having used sticks and knives against the soldiers, who felt their lives were in danger and acted in self- defence as they were being "lynched."
The activists had declared they planned to breach Israel's stringent blockade of Gaza, imposed in 2006 in response to rocket and mortar fire from the coastal enclave at southern Israeli towns and villages, and further tightened in 2007 after the radical Islamist Hamas movement seized sole control of the strip.
The Turkel commission Sunday is publishing the first part of its report, which is to answer the question whether the Israel Navy violated international law.
It also examines whether the naval blockade of Gaza is legal, and the identity and conduct of the activists on board the flotilla.
Following international condemnation in the wake of the flotilla take-over, Israel greatly eased restrictions on the import of goods into Gaza, but exports and the movement of people remain highly restricted.
A United Nations Human Rights Council fact-finding mission ruled in September that Israel used "totally unnecessary violence" and an "unacceptable level of brutality" during its interception of the Gaza-bound flotilla. The soldiers' conduct toward the passengers on board was "disproportionate and excessive," it said.
Israel has refused to cooperate with the mission appointed by the Human Rights Council, which it accuses of a strong bias against it.
Turkey has said the findings of the Israeli commission would be "irrelevant" to it. Relations between the former allies have hit rock bottom since the deadly take-over.
Ankara has demanded an apology and compensation for the victims by Israel, which has refused any acceptance of blame, with its outspoken and controversial foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, calling the demand a "chutzpa" (audacity).
Ties have recovered to a limited degree after Turkey sent two planes to help fight Israel's worst-ever forest fire on the northern Carmel hill late last year.
One member of the eight-member panel, the renowned Israeli jurist Shabtai Rosenne, died in September at the age of 92.