The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) called on the Arab League and the UN Security Council to hold emergency sessions to discuss the Israeli attack on Gaza Freedom Flotilla. A PNA statement called for investigating the Israeli attack on the aid convoy.
Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a press statement it is a "brutal attack of Israeli forces against the Gaza flotilla," adding, "The Gaza flotilla is an international effort to break the Israeli siege on Gaza, bringing tons of humanitarian aid to help the 1.5 million Palestinians besieged there."
"What we have seen this morning is a war crime. These were civilian ships carrying civilians and civilian goods -- medicines, wheelchairs, food, construction materials -- intended for the 1.5 million Palestinians holed up under a cruel and criminal siege by Israel," said Erekat.
Referring to the current status of Gaza, he added "the Israeli government has been trying to deny that Gaza is under occupation. However, the fact that Israel is preventing humanitarian aid to freely access the besieged strip clearly shows that Gaza is still occupied."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently on a visit to Jordan, said in a statement published by the state-run Wafa news agency that "what Israel has committed against the activists of the Freedom Flotilla is a massacre," calling for three-day mourning and flags at half-mast.
Ismail Haneya, prime minister of the deposed Hamas government, described the Israeli attack as "the biggest piracy in the world." He telephoned several leaders in the world, and expressed his government's outrage over the Israeli attack.
