The International Criminal Court (ICC) said Israel is guilty of “war crimes” in the Mavi Marmara raid, which nine Turkish activists were killed by Israeli commandos, Turkey’s IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation announced on Tuesday.

The International Criminal Court opened a preliminary examination into the events surrounding the 2010 Israel Navy raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla to the Gaza Strip following a referral from the island nation of Comoros.

IHH chairman Bülent Yıldırım said that the ICC prosecution team had finished its investigation in the Mavi Marmara case and decided that war crimes committed by the Israeli Navy on May 2010 in the Mavi Marmara tessel in international waters.

On 31 May 2010, nine peaceful activists, nine Turkish, including one Turkish-American, were killed by the Israel Defence Forces, when the Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara flotilla seeking to break the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.

The 2010 incident caused international outrage and soured Turkish-Israeli ties. In March 2014, Turkey received an apology from the Israeli government. The two states are now looking to normalize their relations with a deal said to be involving compensation for the victims’ families.  AL SABAAH