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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100811/wl_mideast_afp/israelconflictgazaprobemilitary
Israel "Failed to Use Enough Force" in Raid
(AFP) Troops failed to use enough force when taking over the Gaza-bound flotilla, Israel's top general said. "We needed to have people alongside the ship with precise weapons to neutralize those who were preventing the soldiers rappelling down from the helicopter," he told an Israeli commission of inquiry. "Our central mistake was that we didn't manage to create the conditions to achieve maximum strength in minimum time." The military had "underestimated the intensity of the resistance we would encounter on board the ship." The general rejected accusations that some of the dead had been shot "execution-style." "I reject this with derision," he said. "Was there shooting point blank? Yes indeed - there was an instance where someone attacked a soldier with an axe from close range. Somebody with an axe - that is life-threatening."