Today in Labor History May 31, 2010: Israeli commandos boarded the Turkish ship MV Mavi Marmara, part of a six-boat Gaza Freedom Flotilla, while it was in international waters, and killed ten Turkish civilians, a few of whom may have been armed with metal bars and knives. The flotilla had been organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İHH). They were carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials to aid Gazans, living under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza. The United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) concluded that six of the deaths had been summary executions. Israeli commandos boarded the other five ships, too, where activists employed passive resistance without any violent deaths.
A UNHRC report deemed the Israeli blockade of Gaza illegal. In 2013, Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and offered $20 million in compensation. The Freedom Flotilla was the ninth attempt by activists to break the blockade of Gaza.
The Israeli blockade of Gaza began in 2010, in response to the Hamas election victory in 2007. It lasted the entire twelve years until the events of October 7, 2022, when Israel tightened the blockade further and initiated their genocide. During the periods of total closure, Israel completely banned all movement of people or goods between Gaza and Israel, the West Bank, and foreign markets, including neighboring Egypt. The world Bank estimates that in 1996, alone, the blockade caused Gaza to lose 40% of its GNP.