An Israeli commission set up to investigate the May 31 raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian convoy in the Mediterranean Sea held its first session on Monday, the Kol Israel radio station reported.
The commission, headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, is to establish the legality of the raid in neutral waters off the Gaza coast, the report said. The attack, which resulted in nine deaths, was widely condemned by the international community.
The commission is also to decide whether the sea blockade of Gaza complies with international law and reveal the organizers of the Turkish-led humanitarian action.
"The commission has decided to call the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu], defense minister [Ehud Barak] and chief of the General Staff [Gabi Ashkenazi], as well as other top officials," Turkel was quoted as saying during the opening session.
The commission is "firmly resolved to conduct a thorough investigation and hopes therefore to contribute to the cause of peace," he said.
Netanyahu has already agreed to cooperate with the commission, Kol Israel said. The commission was created by the Israeli government, but has an "independent" and "public" status.
During the G20 summit in Toronto, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Israel to apologize for the attack and agree to the creation of a truly independent commission involving foreign experts to investigate the attack.
Israel has rejected numerous calls to set up an international inquiry into the raid, but has invited Northern Irish Nobel Prize laureate David Trimble and the former Judge Advocate General of the Canadian Forces, Ken Watkin, to monitor the Israeli investigation committee's activities.
Besides the commission, the Israeli military were also ordered to conduct separate probes into the raid.
TEL-AVIV, June 28 (RIA Novosti)
