If vessels of the international flotilla of ships broke the humanitarian blockade of the Gaza Strip and entered the territorial waters of the enclave, it will have lead to the opening of a corridor for the delivery of weapons into Gaza, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said, CNN Turk TV channel reported.
"We took this decision because we couldn't resolve this conflict through diplomatic ways. If they agreed to cooperate, Israel will have let humanitarian aid through its ports," Ayalon said.
Officials of the Israeli military commandos said that clashes were provoked by human rights activists, who attacked on the Israeli soldiers with knives and truncheons.
According to the Turkish media outlets, 19 human rights activists were killed and hundreds injured. Six soldiers from the Israeli side were injured.
According to the witnesses, the shooting started after the commandos landed on the deck of the Turkish ship, heading a flotilla consisting of six ships, which were going to the blockade region, Sky News television channel reported.
The Turkish side has condemned attacks of Israelis on the humanitarian mission. "We strongly condemn such inhuman actions of Israel," said in the statement of the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Ankara also stated the " irreparable consequences" of today's "unacceptable" incident.
Rallies are held in the capital of Turkey in front of the Embassy of Israel. Hundreds of demonstrators came to the streets to express their discontent. During the rally Israeli flags were burned.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton has called for a full investigation of the tragedy.
Sweden, whose defenders were also on board the flotilla, expressed regret over the incident.
Leadership of the extremist Hamas Movement which controls the Gaza Strip also has reacted to the recent actions of Israel. In its statement, Hamas appealed to "Arabs and Muslims around the world to unite against Israel." At the same time, Syria called for an emergency meeting of the League of Arab States.
The actions of the Israeli Army were argued that the organizers of the humanitarian mission earlier ignored the warnings from Israel, didn't slew the ships, and did not agree to unload humanitarian cargo in one of the ports of the country.
Initially, the flotilla was to include nine vessels, filled up by Turkey, United Kingdom, Ireland, Greece, Kuwait and Algeria, and should have deliver about 10 tons of humanitarian cargo, including water purification equipment, wheelchairs and cement forbidden to import to Gaza. However, the three ships failed to arrive, including two of them for technical reasons. The government of Israel states that every week15 tons of humanitarian aid is allowed for the Gaza Strip, but, according to UN assessment, it is less than a fourth of the required.
The blockade on the Gaza Strip was imposed by Israel in 2007 after extremist Movement Hamas, whose fighters waging an armed struggle with Israel, began to control the region.