Sweden investigates Israel's refusal to allow ships into Gaza

Sweden has set up an inquiry to investigate Israel’s refusal to allow two naval ships to defy the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip in 2010 and 2012, judiciary sources revealed yesterday.

Prosecutors said in a press statement that the attorney general “has decided to open a preliminary investigation into the circumstances in which Israeli soldiers intercepted ships, carrying 10 Swedish nationals, headed to Gaza in May 2010 and October 2012.”

It said that in the first incident, “Israeli special forces launched an attack in international waters on a flotilla of six ships carrying humanitarian aid, killing nine Turks aboard the Mavi Marmara.”

In the second case the Israeli Navy intercepted a ship in international waters, in the Mediterranean Sea, called Juliet which flew a Finnish flag.

Sweden will investigate whether or not deliberate acts of violence, theft and breaches of international law, specifically the Geneva Convention which provides for the protection of civilians in armed conflicts, were carried out.