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On May 31, 2010, the Israeli navy attacked the unarmed protest ship, the Mavi Marmara, the lead boat in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea within international waters, resulting in the murder of nine activists, eight from Turkey and the ninth from the United States.
Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (iHH) created the "Free Gaza Movement" and organized the flotilla to bring humanitarian aid and construction materials to the besieged Gaza Strip. Israel has and continues to maintain a complete blockade since 2007.
International outrage over the incident was immediate and dramatically shook Turkish-Israeli relations. As of 2023, the Gaza Strip, with over two million people, over 70 percent under the age of 30, is still under the complete stranglehold of the Israeli military with limited movement of goods and people in or out. Despite paying taxes, the people of Gaza have no rights or status under Israeli law. The Israeli army has occupied, blockaded, or quarantined the Gaza Strip since 1967.
In the centuries leading up to 1967, the coastal region was a thriving agricultural and commercial hub, with beautiful beaches and a steady tourism trade. Today, it is one of the most impoverished places in the world, regularly surveilled, bombed, and starved of even the most basic necessities by the occupying nation. Under international law, Israel's behavior in the Gaza Strip is collective punishment, a war crime. The situation is so dire that Gaza is described as an "open-air prison" by human rights advocates worldwide.
The Freedom Flotilla and the Mavi Marmara were trying to alleviate the situation; it is the only reason they were attacked. The hasbara (propaganda) by the attacking nation attempted to spin the story in favor of the military. However, though the falsified videos and reporting remain easily accessible on the internet (we will not link to them), investigations proved deception, and the state ultimately paid modest reparations to the families of the murdered human rights workers.
The full report on the Mavi Marmara attack is in the document download section below, including the details on how and where the attacking nation manipulated the videos and story to distort the attack and change the narrative.
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