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Gaza flotilla raid: 'We heard gunfire � then our ship turned into lake of blood'
Activists aboard Mavi Marmara speak of shock at rapid attacks and deny assaults on Israeli commandos
She said the commandos then sent the women to a lower level of the ship.
"They said we were terrorists � it was absurd. They came into the part where the women were, lots and lots of them, dressed in black and with gigantic weapons as if they were in a war. They confiscated all of our telephones and all of our luggage and took everything out of the bags and put it on the floor."
"We expected them to shoot people in the legs, to shoot in the air, just to scare people, but they were direct," she said, in a separate interview with the Folha de S�o Paulo newspaper. "Some of them shot in the passengers' heads. Many people were murdered � it was unimaginable."
The released activists gave varying accounts of the level of resistance mounted by the passengers.
Annette Groth, a German politician, described at a press conference how she had seen Israeli soldiers outside her cabin, after they had stormed the ship.
"They were shooting without warning," she said. "It was like war � They had guns, Taser weapons, some type of teargas and other weaponry, compared to two-and-a-half wooden sticks we had between us. To talk of self-defence is ridiculous."
We did not resist at all, we couldn't even if we had wanted to," he said. "What could we have done against the commandos who climbed aboard? The only thing some people tried was to delay them from getting to the bridge, forming a human shield. They were fired on with plastic bullets and stunned with electric devices."
Greek activist Dimitris Gielalis, aboard a third vessel, the Sfendoni, gave a similar account. "Suddenly from everywhere we saw inflatables coming at us, and within seconds fully equipped commandos came up on the boat. They came up and used plastic bullets, we had beatings, we had electric shocks, any method we can think of, they used," he said.
The tough treatment did not end after they were taken into custody in Israel, others said.
"During their interrogation, many of them were badly beaten in front of us," said Aris Papadokostopoulos.
"There was great mistreatment after our arrest," added Grigoropoulos.
Gaza flotilla activists deported to Jordan claim Israeli mistreatment
Israel deports 124 pro-Palestinian activists to Jordan and transfers 200 more to Tel Aviv airport amid increasing calls for independent inquiry into deadly assault
One of the group deported to Jordan today, Walid al-Tabtabai, a Kuwaiti politician who was on board one of the ships with other activists from Muslim countries, said: "The Israelis roughed up and humiliated all of us: women, men and children.
"They were brutal and arrogant, but our message reached every corner of the world, that the blockade on Gaza is unfair and should be lifted immediately."
Like many passengers on the flotilla he insisted there were no weapons on any of the ships.
An Algerian, Izzeddine Zahrour, said the Israeli authorities "deprived us of food, water and sleep, and we weren't allowed to use the toilet".
"It was an ugly kidnapping, and subsequently bad treatment in Israeli jail," he said. "They handcuffed us, pushed us around and humiliated us."
Mauritanian Mohammed Gholam said Israel "wanted us to sign documents saying that we entered Israel illegally".
An Algerian activist, who giving only a first name of Sabrina, accused Israeli commandos of taking a one-year-old child hostage.
"They point a gun to his head in front of his Turkish parents to force the captain of our ship to stop sailing," she said.
A Jordanian government spokesman said there were 30 Jordanians in the group. Jordan is one of two Arab nations with a signed peace treaty with Israel. The Kuwaiti ambassador, Sheik Faisal al-Sabah, said the group included 16 Kuwaitis. He said the other activists came from Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Yemen, Oman and Bahrain.
Turkey has led criticism of the raid, accusing Israel of committing a "massacre", and the UN security council demanded an impartial investigation. There were reports in the Israeli media today that Israel had ordered the families of its diplomats in Turkey to leave that country because of Turkish anger at the raid.
Washington blocked an attempt at the UN security council for an international inquiry yesterday, issuing a mild statement regretting the loss of life. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, later called the situation in Gaza "unsustainable".
"Israel's legitimate security needs must be met, just as the Palestinians' legitimate needs for sustained humanitarian assistance and regular access to reconstruction materials must also be assured," she said.
Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said this morning that Israel's blockade of Gaza was "an absolute humanitarian catastrophe" that was "not in Israel's own long-term self-interest".
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning Israel had "every right" to protect its people from terrorist threat, but said: "What I ask my Israeli friends and Israeli politicians and officials I meet is: what's the strategy; where do you go next; how are you going to secure in the long term � not just day to day � the security which you rightly crave?"
