Aboard the Turkish ship MV Mavi Marmara, the Israeli Navy faced resistance from about 40 of the 590 passengers, including IHH activists who were said to be armed with iron bars and knives.

A UNHRC report in September 2010 into the incident deemed the blockade illegal and stated that Israel's actions were "disproportionate" and "betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality", with evidence of "wilful killing".

[14][15] The report also found that the degree of force used against the Mavi Marmara was "excessive and unreasonable",[16] and that the way Israel treated detained crew members violated international human rights law.

[29] A BBC documentary concluded that Israeli forces had faced a violent premeditated attack by a group of hardcore IHH activists, who intended to orchestrate a political act to put pressure on Israel.

On 22 March 2013 Netanyahu apologised for the incident in a 30-minute telephone call with Erdoğan, stating that the results were unintended; the Turkish prime minister accepted the apology and agreed to enter into discussions to resolve the compensation issue.

[65][66] According to UPI press coverage, the officer alluded to "grey operations" against the flotilla and said that no such action had been taken against the Mavi Marmara out of fear that the vessel might be stranded in the middle of the sea, endangering the people on board.

[81][82] Video footage shows the "hardcore group" activists prepared before the raid, praying together while wearing uniforms, taking their gas masks and makeshift weapons, and getting into position.

The passengers formed a human ring on the bridge to block the soldiers, and Israeli troops responded by using physical force, electric shocks, plastic and rubber bullets, paintballs, and tear gas.

[117][116][118][119] A reporter for the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote that Israeli soldiers approached passengers with guns drawn and tasered a 65-year-old person from a distance of ten centimeters.

[80] The bodies of the nine activists killed during the raid were taken to Israel aboard a naval vessel,[citation needed] and held in the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, where an external examination was carried out.

[152] The Israeli military said that in addition to medical aid and construction materials, they found knives, clubs, slingshots, bulletproof vests, gas masks, and night vision goggles aboard the Mavi Marmara.

[153] A statement released by Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated that violence against the soldiers was pre-planned, and that "light weaponry" was found on the ships, including pistols that had been seized from IDF commandos.

[166] Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin described the arrests as "kidnapping" and questioned the logic of bringing the detainees to Israel only to deport them there, instead of giving them "unconditional release".

[119] According to Henning Mankell, Israeli authorities confiscated their money, credit cards, mobile phones, laptops, cameras, and personal belongings including clothes.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon completed a two-month consultation with Turkey and Israel to convene the panel that was led by former Prime Minister of New Zealand Geoffrey Palmer (Chair) and the outgoing President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe (Vice-Chair).

[207] Palestinian Authority president, and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) since 11 November 2004, Mahmoud Abbas said, "Israel has committed a massacre,"[208] and declared a three-day state of mourning.

[234] B. Lynn Pascoe, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, cautioned "such convoys were not helpful in resolving Gaza's basic economic problems and needlessly carried the potential for escalation".

[242] Shortly before the release of the UN Palmer report, Turkey gave Israel an ultimatum to either issue an apology for the raid, or face "Plan B", without elaborating what action in intended to take.

[244] Prime Minister Erdoğan also announced that Turkish warships would escort future aid flotillas to Gaza, and that Turkey would stop Israel from "unilaterally exploiting" natural gas resources in the Eastern Mediterranean.

As of 27 March 2013, a media report anticipated a meeting that would be led by Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu and Israel's Ciechanover[249]) to discuss the specific matter of Turkey–Israel ties.

[257] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hoped the Israeli-led process would put an end to efforts in the United Nations to set up an international inquiry, which many Israelis fear would be biased.

The commission had two non-voting foreign observers: Former First Minister of Northern Ireland and Nobel Peace Prize laureate David Trimble, and former Judge Advocate General of the Canadian Forces Ken Watkin, both of whom were friendly to Israel according to the BBC and Der Spiegel.

[citation needed] According to Haaretz journalist Barak Ravid, UN Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Inquiry on 31 May 2010, found that Israel's Turkel commission that investigated the events was professional, independent and unbiased.

[279] On 23 July 2010 the United Nations Human Rights Council launched an independent fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law that may have occurred during the flotilla raid.

The naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law.

Bensouda subsequently reopened a probe into the incident, and her office received over 5,000 pages of additional evidence, including testimonies from more than 300 Mavi Marmara passengers and Turkish autopsy reports, as well as arguments in defense of the action from Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and his Senior Adviser Gil Limon.

Possible charges, against Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, would include murder, injury, attacking Turkish citizens, and piracy.

The meeting took place five days before the raid, and relevant officials, including the Justice and Internal Security Ministers, were not invited, and the discussion was not in line with national security-related decision-making protocols.

[316] A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said, "We will look into the circumstances of the death of an American citizen, as we would do anywhere in the world at all times", noting that the FBI could get involved, "working with the host government", "if we think a crime has been committed".

[327] The finding declaring the naval blockade legal was rejected by a UNHRC panel of five independent human rights experts, stating that it amounted to collective punishment and was unlawful.