Gaza flotilla report officially handed to UN leader

UNITED NATIONS: A UN report examining last year's deadly Israeli raid on a Turkish-led Gaza aid flotilla was officially handed over Friday to the secretariat of the world body.

"The secretary general expresses his gratitude to the members of the panel for their hard work and to the parties for their full cooperation with the panel," a spokesman for UN leader Ban Ki-moon said, confirming details of the report which was widely leaked on Thursday.

The investigation, led by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer, said Israel used "excessive" force in the raid on May 31, 2010 when it stopped six vessels trying to take humanitarian goods to Gaza. Nine Turkish nationals died in the raid.

But the report did say that Israel's naval blockade of Gaza is legal and that the flotilla organizers had acted "recklessly" in trying the mission. (AFP)