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TIMELINE-Main events in the Gaza flotilla affair
June 14 (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet approved on Monday an Israeli inquiry commission into a deadly raid on a Gaza aid flotilla.
Here is a timeline of events following the raid:
May 31, 2010 - Some 120 km (75 miles) west of Haifa, the flotilla ignores calls for the ships to turn around or be escorted to Ashdod. Commandos begin boarding each vessel. Five of the six ships are commandeered swiftly with few injuries, but on the Mavi Marmara, Israeli commandos eventually overpower protesters who had fought back with clubs and knives. Nine Turkish activists are killed.
-- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after changing plans twice, cuts short a trip to Canada and calls U.S. President Barack Obama to cancel a June 1 White House meeting.
June 1 - Activists from the flotilla are taken to a detention centre at Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv and are deported.
-- Egypt says it will open its border with the Gaza Strip at the Rafah crossing to let Palestinians through on June 2.
June 2 - Netanyahu defends Israel's blockade of Gaza saying it is vital to limit the smuggling of weapons, including long-range rockets, to Hamas, and would stay in place.
-- Israel says it is deporting all 682 activists from more than 35 countries detained after the assault.
-- Turkey accuses Israel of "state terrorism", recalls its ambassador from Tel Aviv and demands it lifts the blockade.
June 3 - Hundreds of activists from the flotilla land in Istanbul to a hero's welcome. The three planes also carry the coffins of the nine dead.
June 4 - Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accuses Israel of betraying its religion with the killings, as relations between the once-close allies reach virtual breaking point.
-- Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc says Turkey will downgrade ties with Israel to "a minimum."
June 5 - Israel's navy boards the Gaza-bound aid ship Rachel Corrie without incident and sails it to Ashdod. The 19 passengers and crew sign deportation papers.
-- Thousands march through Istanbul, demanding Turkey cut economic ties with Israel.
June 6 - Israel rejects a proposal by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for an international investigation into the raid and says it has the right to launch its own inquiry.
June 8 - All members at the end of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit hosted by Turkey, except Israel itself, denounce it for the raid.
June 9 - Obama urges Israel to ease restrictions on humanitarian aid and civilian goods for Gaza, saying the situation is unsustainable.
-- Israel is easing its Gaza embargo to allow snack food and drinks into Gaza, Palestinian officials say. Hamas says the territory needs cement, banned by Israel, not soft drinks. June 13 - Arab League chief Amr Moussa visits the Gaza Strip, the highest Arab official to do so since 2007 and calls for an end to Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory.
June 14 - Netanyahu's cabinet votes unanimously to set up an "independent, public commission" headed by retired Israeli Supreme Court judge, Jacob Turkel. It will include two non-voting foreign observers: David Trimble, a Northern Ireland politician, and Canadian jurist Ken Watkin.
-- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip violates the Geneva Conventions and calls for its lifting.
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