The United Nations Human Rights Council opened a debate on Thursday on the Israeli raid on a flotilla of activists with humanitarian aid bound for the Gaza Strip which left at least nine people dead, according to dpa. Opening the session, deemed an "urgent debate," the UN's rights chief Navi Pillay said that had Israel accepted her recommendation to lift the blockade on Gaza "we would not be expressing our condemnation and regret over needless deaths and injuries." Israel's envoy to the UN in Geneva, Aharon Leshno Yaar, however, defended his government's blockade on the coastal enclave, and said the military was acting legally when it raided the ship, leading to fatalities and injuries on Monday. Palestinian diplomat Imad Zuhairi told the council that "Israel thinks it is above the law." -- SPA
