JERUSALEM (JTA) -- With nations around the world condemning Israel for the deaths of nine people aboard a Gaza-bound ship, israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a planned visit to the White House.
Netanyahu was scheduled to meet Tuesday with President Obama following a weekend visit to Canada, which included a working meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The visit would have been Netanyahu's first meeting with Obama since a late March meeting at the White House in which the administration was accused of snubbing the Israeli leader.
Obama and Netanyahu spoke by telephone and agreed to set up a meeting at a later date, according to the Prime Minister's Office.
In Washington, the White House released a statement Monday on the incident.
"The United States deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained, and is currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy," the statement said.
Israel's Navy intercepted six ships early Monday morning about 70 miles off Gaza's coast in international waters. The ships were among a fleet of nine carrying humanitarian aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists. The Gaza "Freedom Flotilla," organized by the pro-Hamas Free Gaza group, had left last week from ports in Ireland, Greece and Turkey.
Israel had radioed to the ships numerous times late Sunday night and early Monday morning requesting that they head to the port of Ashdod, where they could unload their aid material to be transferred to Gaza after security inspections, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
Upon boarding the largest ship, the Marmara, run by IHH, a Turkish humanitarian relief fund with a radical Islamic anti-Western orientation, the naval forces were attacked with metal clubs and knives, as well as live fire, according to the IDF.
"The demonstrators had clearly prepared their weapons in advance for this specific purpose," the statement said, adding that the Navy then used riot dispersal methods, which include live fire.
"The forces operated in adherence with operational commands and took all necessary actions in order to avoid violence, but to no avail," the IDF statement said.
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