Friday, June 4, 2010

Gaza flotilla reporter describes 'brutal' Israeli assault

By Katrine Bussey, Press Association

"A British journalist today told how Israeli commandos had carried out a "brutal" assault on the boat he was on as it attempted to take aid to Gaza.

Hassan Ghani, 25, from Glasgow, was on board the Mavi Marmara, the main ship in the aid flotilla which was targeted by the Israelis.

He told how the Israelis had first fired grenades on to the boat as some of its passengers were at morning prayers.

And he went on to describe how soldiers first tried to board the vessel from the side, before dropping down onto it from helicopters....

But Mr Ghani insisted those those on the boat were civilians who did not have weapons.

He told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that people "used sticks, chairs, anything to stop these solders who were coming down with machine guns and tasers and firing rubber bullets and later on using live ammunition on civilians".

The journalist said: "We knew Israel would do some sort of action, but we thought they would perhaps just try to scare us and then allow us through......"

No comments: