Just two days after six Palestinians were killed by an (almost certainly accidental) explosion in one of the smugglers’ tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, this morning I woke up to the news that ten to twenty Turkish civil rights activists had been killed by Israeli forces whilst in the process of trying to convey 10,000 tons of aid to the port of Gaza via a flotilla of ships organized by the ‘Free Gaza’ Group. By lunchtime the BBC was talking about little else.

This outcome, tragic as it is, is not a complete surprise. Since the ships set sail from Cyprus a few days ago, Israeli authorities have repeatedly affirmed their intention to prevent the aid from breaching the naval blockade, viewing the mission as direct provocation. The flotilla, which has hardly concealed its movements – quite the contrary - has consequently been steering itself on a steady but inevitable collision course with the Israeli Defence Force.  Less inevitable was that the confrontation would end so bloodily. ‘Free Gaza’, an association of multi-national pro-Palestinian human rights groups have staged a number of maritime aid missions to Gaza, only few of which have actually reached their destination in the past, but all of which have been peaceful, and the group notes in its mission statement:

We want to break the siege of Gaza. We want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of the Gaza Strip and pressure the international community to review its sanctions policy and end its support for continued Israeli occupation…We have not and will not ask for Israel’s permission. It is our intent to overcome this brutal siege through civil resistance and non-violent direct action, and establish a permanent sea lane between Gaza and the rest of the world.

“Free Gaza” spokesperson Greta Berlin told the Guardian last week with reference to the latest mission that "The previous boats were making a statement   these boats will be making a real impact," raising questions as to quite what they hoped to achieve. 10,000 tons of aid is a lot to waste, after all, when the primary objective is to raise international awareness and the chances of delivering the aid are slim. Israel will doubtless claim that if the activists truly had the humanitarian interests of the people of Gaza at heart, they would have found an alternative way to channel the aid through Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli spokesmen have for their part claimed that the resistance staged in the latest incident was hardly non-violent, as Israeli commandoes were greeted by militant opposition, knives and clubs as they boarded one of the ships early this morning.

 

Whatever the circumstances, Israel faces immediate difficulties in accounting for this death toll.  And, in view of early reports that the victims are predominantly Turkish nationals, these difficulties will only be compounded in the longer term by increasingly strained diplomatic relations between Israel and its erstwhile ally, Turkey. Once a lone friend to Israel amidst a hostile Muslim world, Turkey still shares immense trading links with Israel, but diplomatically, bilateral relations between the two countries have flagged since the 2009 Israeli war on Gaza. In what many see as an attempt to hive off domestic Islamist opposition, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan personally signaled his growing distaste for Israeli policies to Shimon Peres at the Davos summit last year. If that was a bad time for Israel to lose its regional ally, then Turkey too has suffered over the last year from this deterioration in the form of US disapproval.

Hamas may well be able to salvage some sort of PR victory from yesterday’s events, but other than that, it is difficult to see any winners. Israel faces the world’s condemnation; Turkey has lost at least a dozen nationals; both countries are set to lose from a collapse in their alliance; “Free Gaza” has perhaps foolishly frittered away the chance to deliver aid, and the Gazaens get nothing.