The United Nations Security Council has condemned actions that “led” to the deaths. In a statement approved after hours of deliberation, the Council also demanded the immediate release of the ships and the civilians held by Israel and called for an impartial investigation. All the permanent member of the Security Council except for the United States explicitly called for Israel’s three-year blockade of the Gaza Strip to be lifted. Thousands of people in cities across the world, from Turkey to Europe to the United States to Pakistan, have come out on the streets to protest the bloody attack on the humanitarian aid convoy. In Israel, the Israeli peace activist Jeff Halper denounced the attack on the ship.

Jeff Halper: “These people died last night, and dozens were wounded. And this whole mission set out because governments did not do their job. It’s the governments’ responsibility of the world and the UN to end this siege, which is illegal, which is inhumane, which is immoral. And if the governments don’t do their work, people have to get up. I didn’t want to get on a boat and go through the Israeli Navy and get arrested. These people didn’t want to die.”