Lauren Frayer Contributor

AOL News

(June 1) -- Pro-Palestinian activists are promising to send two more boats to try to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, a day after Israeli commandos killed at least nine people in a bloody raid the U.N. condemned after a contentious all-night session. Israel is deporting 50 of the activists it captured on Monday, but says it will continue to hold more than 600 others, including an unidentified American who shouted to reporters as he was being hauled away: "There are bruises all over my body. ... They won't let me show them to you." The U.N. Security Council issued a statement at nearly 2 a.m. EDT in which it said it "deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force during the Israeli military operation in international waters against the convoy sailing to Gaza." It called on Israel to release all civilians and allow countries to retrieve their dead. A "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation" is needed, the U.N. said. But the statement was weaker than what was initially demanded by Arab nations and Turkey. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he regretted any "loss of life" but defended his military's actions in storming the humanitarian flotilla on Monday, saying Israeli commandos "had to defend themselves, defend their lives, or they would have been killed." Israel contends that its soldiers were attacked by passengers as they boarded one of the ships, and fired only in self-defense. Netanyahu cut short a trip to Canada and canceled a meeting with President Barack Obama, scheduled for today in Washington, to return home to deal with the crisis. Obama voiced "deep regret" over the killings, and the White House said he "expressed the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances" surrounding the confrontation. Turkey's prime minister accused Israel of "state terrorism." Later today, NATO ambassadors plan to hold emergency talks at Turkey's request. It's been three years since Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, a semi-autonomous territory of 1.5 million Palestinians, after the extremist Islamic political party Hamas, which had been elected in 2006, put down a challenge by the more moderate Fatah party. Only sporadic aid shipments have been allowed to reach Gazans since then, and aid groups say the population faces serious shortages of food, water and medical supplies. Monday's flotilla -- three cargo ships and three passenger ferries -- was carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian supplies like wheelchairs and water purification equipment, organizers said. Its passengers were mostly Turkish but also are believed to include Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australian journalists and three German lawmakers. A Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Northern Ireland, Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, was initially reported to be on Monday's flotilla, but the Irish Times reports today that she was on another aid ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, due to arrive in Gazan waters Wednesday. Former U.N. assistant secretary general Denis Halliday is also aboard. The ship is named after an American college student who was killed in 2003 by an Israeli military bulldozer while trying to block Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza. Israel has not identified any of the nine people killed or the 34 wounded on Monday. One of the groups that organized the flotilla, the Free Gaza Movement, said today that another cargo boat is off the coast of Italy, heading to Gaza. A second vessel with three dozen passengers is expected to join it, spokeswoman Greta Berlin told The Associated Press. It's unclear whether the MV Rachel Corrie is one of those ships. "This initiative is not going to stop," Berlin said from the group's base in Cyprus. "We think eventually Israel will get some kind of common sense. They're going to have to stop the blockade of Gaza, and one of the ways to do this is for us to continue to send the boats." Berlin disputes the Israeli military's account of what happened. Israel says the activists were armed with knives and clubs, and that they snatched at least two Israeli soldiers' pistols and fired them as the troops rappelled down onto their ship from helicopters. But Berlin and others say the activists were not armed and did not attack first. The group has posted video of the scuffle which it believes proves its version of events. The Israeli military in turn posted its own video, but both clips are grainy and could be interpreted in different ways.

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