JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Israel acted in line with international law in a attack on Gaza-bound aid ships which killed nine Turks, in testimony Monday before an Israeli panel.

Netanyahu also 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.
“I am convinced that at the end of your investigation, it will become clear that… Israel and the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) acted in accordance with international law,” Netanyahu told members of the Tirkel Commission.
Netanyahu said Israel exerted every diplomatic effort to have the ships turn back or dock elsewhere.
But Turkey made no effort to prevent the six-ship flotilla from breaking the blockade, which was organized by the “radical Turkish organization IHH (Foundation of Humanitarian Relief) which supports Hamas,” he said.
“The Turkish government did not consider the confrontation between Turkish activists and Israel to be against its interests,” he charged.