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Israel to pay $20 million in compensation to Mavi Marmara victims

April 5, 2014 at 2:32 pm

Palestinians hold portraits of those killed by Israel during the attack on the Mavi Marmara on 31 May 2010 [Ashraf Amra/ApaImages]

According to news reports, Israel has agreed to pay $20 million in compensation to the families of the nine Turkish citizens who were killed during the 2010 Israeli army raid of the Mavi Marmara ship in international waters.

However, Israeli radio quoted on Tuesday a report by Israel’s Channel 2 television stating that no date has been specified yet to sign the Israeli-Turkish reconciliation agreement due to “several senior Turkish officials’ opposition to one of its clauses”.

In 2010, the Israeli army raided the Mavi Marmara ship in international waters. The ship was part of an international humanitarian flotilla carrying aid to the besieged Gaza Strip, and during the raid Israeli forces killed nine Turkish activists and injured others.

The incident led to increased political tensions with Turkey, which summoned its ambassador to Israel. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded for Israel to apologise for the incident and to pay compensation to the victims’ families. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologised in March of last year, after which discussions between the two sides began to determine the compensation amount.