Soldiers 'shot those who they needed to shoot' on board Mavi Marmara after underestimating strength of resistance

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

Israel's chief of staff has defended his troops' actions during the lethal raid on the Gaza aid flotilla as "proportionate and correct".

Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi rejected the blame apportioned to the military for the disastrous outcome during testimony to the inquiry by Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak.

"The commandos exhibited calm, bravery and morality", Ashkenazi told the hearing, adding that he took responsibility for the military's actions.

Nine Turkish activists were killed when the flotilla was intercepted in international waters. It had been attempting to deliver aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. Ashkenazi said he was proud of the soldiers who came under attack by a group of militants on board the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara.

"From the moment the operation began it was clear the circumstances were unprecedented," he said.

"The soldiers legitimately opened fire and shot those who they needed to shoot and not those who they didn't need to shoot."

The military's main mistake, he said, was to assume there were only 10-15 people on the deck of the Mavi Marmara. "We thought we could throw stun grenades, clear (the passengers) and then fast-rope soldiers on to the boat. This was the mistake. We should have used precise fire to incapacitate those preventing the soldiers from boarding the ship to reduce the risk to our soldiers."

He said the Israeli military was a transparent organisation that conducted investigations into its own actions and learned lessons from each operation.

An earlier internal inquiry into military and intelligence planning of the operation found there were serious mistakes in underestimating the strength of resistance Israeli forces would encounter.

Ashkenazi's evidence follows that of Barak and the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, before a five-man panel headed by the former supreme court judge Jacob Turkel.

A UN investigation just launched in New York has already run into a dispute over whether Israeli soldiers can be called to give evidence. Israel is adamant that no IDF soldier will be interviewed.