Turkish protesters attack Israeli women's volleyball team

Israeli women's volleyball team has been attacked by Turkish protesters, Haarets paper reported.

Dozens of hundreds of pro-Palestinian Turkish activists carrying Palestinian flags attacked the bus with Israeli sportswomen aboard. There were not any reports about damage and no one was injured; however, the authorities had to limit the entrance for sport fans who gathered to watch the game.

The clashes occurred due to the deadly attack by Israeli armed forces against the international pro-Palestinian flotilla. On May 31, the Israeli commandos killed nine activists who were part of a flotilla that was trying to break an Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip to deliver aid directly to Palestinians. Eight of the activists were Turks and one another was an American of Turkish origin.

After the deadly raid, the relations between Turkey and Israel deteriorated; Turkey recalled its Ambassador from Israel, demanded on international investigation into the raid and compensation for damages and deaths, and said that Israel must offer its sorry for the attack; numerous demonstrations swept across Turkey; Turkey's government harshly criticized Israel. Israel, in its turn, imposed a travel warning to its people to avoid traveling to Turkey. (It was lifted last week).

It’s worth mentioning that Turkey has had to cancel several matches between teams of Turkey and Israel. This time Israeli team arrived in Turkey to meet with Serbian team within the framework of the Women’s European Volleyball League taking place in Ankara. The match between Serbia and Israel was the first qualification game of the championship.