[JURIST] Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu [official profile] said Saturday that Turkey will take Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] over the legality of Israel’s Gaza Strip [BBC backgrounder] blockade. Davutoglu delivered a press statement [text] on Friday accepting the findings of a UN report [text, PDF; JURIST report] that criticized Israel for using excessive and unreasonable force during the May 2010 flotilla incident [JURIST news archive], in which Israeli forces raided several Turkish ships bound for Gaza. Davutoglu denounced the report’s finding that the Gaza naval blockade is lawful. He stated that Turkey will apply for an ICJ investigation [Reuters report] of the blockade next week.

Numerous investigations into the flotilla raid have been conducted since the incident took place. The Turkish Foreign Ministry [official website] announced [JURIST report] in August 2010 that it would conduct an investigation into the raid. Two months earlier, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] announced the composition [JURIST report] of the international panel of inquiry. The Israeli government has established two internal commissions to investigate its response to the flotilla, one military and one civilian [JURIST reports]. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [official website] testified before the civilian commission in August 2010 that Israel did not violate international law [JURIST report]. In July 2010, an Israeli military probe found insufficient intelligence and planning [JURIST report] in the raid in a report, but also concluded that no punishments were necessary.