Six Greeks and several others, including a Turkish woman and her one-year-old baby, were released Tuesday, but Israel has barred access to hundreds of others seized during the raid that killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens early Monday.
Turkish activist Nilufer Cetin, who had hidden with her baby in her cabin's bathroom aboard the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, said: "The ship turned into a lake of blood." She said Israeli vessels harassed the flotilla for two hours starting around 10 p.m. Sunday, and returned at around 4 a.m. Monday. They fired warning shots and told the ships to turn back.
"When the Mavi Marmara continued on its course the harassment turned into an attack. They used smoke bombs followed by gas canisters. They started to descend onto the ship with helicopters," she said, calling the clashes that then erupted "extremely bad and brutal."
Greek activist Dimitris Gielalis, who had been aboard the Sfendoni, said: "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 was among six Greeks who returned home Tuesday.
He said the boat's captain was beaten for refusing to leave the wheel, and had sustained non-life-threatening injuries, while a cameraman filming the raid was hit with a rifle butt in the eye, he said.
The returning Greeks said those still in custody were refusing to sign papers demanded by Israeli authorities.
"During their interrogation, many of them were badly beaten in front of us," said Aris Papadokostopoulos, who was aboard the Free Mediterranean traveling behind the Mavi Marmara and carrying mainly Greek and Swedish activists.
Aboard the other boats, he said, commandos beat activists, but nobody was gravely injured. He said no one put up resistance on the Free Mediterranean, which was carrying a cargo of wheelchairs, building material and medical and pharmaceutical aid. "Some people were hit by clubs and electric shocks," he said.
Crew member Mihalis Grigoropoulos said he was on the bridge of the Free Mediterranean and heard shooting coming from the Turkish ship. Several people who tried to stop the Israeli forces from getting to the bridge were hit by electric shocks and plastic bullets, he said.
Civil engineer Thanassis Petrogiannis said he had joined the flotilla to provide help in rebuilding destroyed Palestinian homes in Gaza. He said that, while in Israeli custody, authorities had demanded he sign a paper written in Hebrew. He refused, and was eventually given another document that he signed. "Everyone who didn't accept to sign is in jail," he said.
Grigoropoulos, the crew member, and Gielalis said they were not asked to sign anything, though their cell phones, cameras and clothes were confiscated before they were expelled.
Three visibly shaken Germans who experienced at first hand the deadly raid denied that anyone on board was armed. "The Israeli government justifies the raid because they were attacked. This is absolutely not the case," former member of Parliament Norman Paech, 72, wrapped in a blue blanket, told reporters in Berlin.
"This was not an act of self-defense."
His comments were backed up by two others on board the convoy when it was raided at dawn on Monday in international waters, MPs Inge Hoeger, 59, and Annette Groth, 56. "We felt like we were in a war, like we were being kidnapped," Hoeger said. "We wanted to bring aid to Gaza. Nobody had a weapon."
