Witness accounts

Elderly man shot and then left to bleed to death

Canadian Farooq Burney (37) described how an elderly activist died after being shot in the chest. "We couldn't see where he was hit so we opened up his lifejacket and we could clearly see that he was hit in the chest, he was losing a lot of blood," Mr Burney said.

"It was on. . . the right, just close to his chest and there was blood coming out from there. He passed away," he added.

Mr Burney also said activists who snatched pistols from the commandos removed the bullets and threw them into the sea, contradicting Israeli assertions that the weapons were used against the boarding party.

Activists describe "bloodbath" on Gaza-bound ship

There were sharp differences in accounts: activists accused Israeli troops of war crimes, while Israel held to its line that they fired in self-defense. In one of the key differences, activists denied Israeli accusations that they fired first, with guns they had seized from Israeli troops in the melee.

Israel: lies and more damn lies

More eye-witness accounts are coming into the public domain from activists on the flotilla. And it totally contradicts Israel’s version of the ‘truth’ (Israel spinning lies, damn lies and more damn lies… orchestrated by the likes of spin doctor extraordinaire, Mark Regev) about the storming of the flotilla.

Israel killed more than 9, threw wounded into sea, witnesses say

Activists say some people who were initially on the flotilla are missing. They are also telling stories of horror, carnage and pure barbarism at the hands of Israeli officials. In a shocking account, Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH) President Bülent Yıldırım, who returned on Thursday, said a photographer, whose first name was Cevdet, was shot in the forehead by a soldier one meter away from him. “Our Cevdet [Kılıçlar], he is a press member. He has become a martyr. All he was doing was taking pictures. They smashed his skull into pieces. We soon made out that these were real bullets they were firing. Rubber bullets also kill because you shoot at very close range, between one-and-a-half and two meters.”

Kiwi: "Israelis fired at will"

Nicola Enchmarch, who was with the aid organisation Viva Palestina, told the BBC the Israeli commandos were "very, very aggressive" and "didn't care who they were firing at".Enchmarch was among the hundreds of activists deported from Israel on Wednesday and spoke at Istanbul airport after being released.

She says she was on the top level when the commandos arrived and there was gunfire coming from all directions. After trying to help the first casualty, Enchmarch says they went down to next level to try to get inside and away from danger.