Giving sworn testimony to a five-member Israeli commission of inquiry, Gabi Ashkenazi admitted the military establishment had failed to foresee the level of violence which would be directed at the navy commandos landing on the deck of the Mavi Marmara passenger ferry.

"The first shots fired on the Marmara were by the people on board and not by IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers," he told the panel, referring to the Turkish passenger ship leading a six-ship flotilla headed for the Palestinian territory.

"This is unequivocably clear," he said, pointing out that right from the outset, troops had faced live fire, with the second commando who tried to reach the deck being shot in the stomach.

"We had underestimated the intensity of the resistance we would encounter on board the ship," he said, adding that the shooting was "a by-product of (the passengers') decision to attack the soldiers."

Because of the violence which erupted as soon as the troops hit the deck, it was clear that "we couldn't have stopped the flotilla without an armed confrontation," Ashkenazi said.

Asked whether the troops had fired point blank at the victims, as charged in a Turkish pathology report, Ashkenazi admitted there had been at least one instance.

But he completely dismissed Turkish accusations that some of the dead had been shot "execution-style," saying that shots had been fired at close range as part of a life or death struggle.

"I reject this with derision," he said. "Was there shooting point blank? Yes indeed -- there was an instance where someone attacked a soldier with an axe from close range.

"Somebody with an axe - that is life-threatening," Ashkenazi said.

Israel has always insisted its commandos resorted to force after they were attacked when they rappelled onto the deck of the Marmara, but pro-Palestinian activists on board say the soldiers opened fire as soon as they landed.

No guns were found aboard the ship but the military has previously said that activists seized at least one firearm from the soldiers during the clashes.

Ashkenazi said that ballistics tests carried out on spent ammunition retrieved from the scene indicated that the activists had at least one firearm of their own but had likely thrown it overboard.

The general's testimony on the May 31 operation, in which eight Turkish and one US-Turkish activist were killed, follows that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday.

The deadly naval raid sparked an international outcry and severely strained relations with Israel's once-close Muslim ally Turkey. It also led Israel to ease its four-year closure of Gaza to allow in purely civilian goods.

The commission chaired by retired Israeli judge Yaakov Tirkel, which is joined by two international observers, is only mandated to look at the international legality of the raid and the blockade of the Hamas-run territory.

It will not be quizzing officials about the decision-making process.

Ashkenazi said in his testimony that commanders had foreseen a violent reception for the troops and the military's main error in preparing for the mission had been in not deploying in greater force.

On Tuesday, Barak said the flotilla was "a planned provocation."

"The image that emerged ... was that the organisations (behind the flotilla) were preparing for armed conflict to embarrass Israel," said the defence minister.

Netanyahu accused Ankara of looking to gain from a high-profile confrontation between Turkish activists aboard the lead ship and the soldiers who seized the vessels in international waters.

After speaking for more than three hours, Ashkanazi -- the only military officer scheduled to appear -- gave the rest of his testimony behind closed doors.

An internal army inquiry has already acknowledged that there were "errors" in the planning and execution of the operation but did not find any culpable negligence.

The United Nations and Turkey are carrying out separate investigations.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News