World reaction to Israel's pre-dawn raid

May 31, 2010 7:30 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- The United Nations said it is shocked at the loss of life during the Israeli military pre-dawn raid on a flotilla of six ships carrying aid for the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

The U.N. has urged Israel to take no further steps that could endanger civilian lives.

"We wish to make clear that such tragedies are entirely avoidable if Israel heeds the repeated calls of the international community to end its counterproductive and unacceptable blockade of Gaza," said a joint statement from Robert Serry, U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Filippo Grandi, Commissioner-General of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.

The British Foreign Office said it was seeking "urgent clarification" into the incident, while the Swedish foreign ministry summoned Israel's ambassador, a spokeswoman said.

According to CNN affiliate TV4, 11 Swedes are among the activists traveling aboard the ships.

Greece summoned the Israeli ambassador in Athens to demand a report on the safety of Greek passengers aboard the flotilla.

After the meeting, the Greek foreign ministry said that the visit of the Israeli Joint Chiefs -- scheduled for Tuesday -- is being postponed, and that the Greek-Israeli military exercise that was in progress has been discontinued. A Greek foreign affairs ministry official could not say how many Greeks were aboard the six ships.

The Turkish foreign ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador for an explanation. "This grave incident which took place in high seas in gross violation of international law might cause irreversible consequences in our relations," the ministry said in a statement.

Protests continued Monday outside the Israeli embassy in Istanbul. The protests, which began on Sunday, were largely peaceful, but police did use water cannons at one point to keep demonstrators at bay.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said the raid will inflame the region.

"Lebanon strongly condemns this attack and calls on the international community, and specifically on the major countries which are supposed to be responsible about the peace process, to take action in order to stop this continuous violation of human rights, which is putting the international peace at risk," Hariri said.

Pakistan said it was concerned about the well-being and whereabouts of two journalists who were aboard the flotilla.

"The Government of Pakistan strongly condemns the use of brazen force by Israel against a humanitarian Mission that was embarked on delivering humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza," the country's foreign ministry said.

"The killing of members of this humanitarian mission, which also included women, is brutal, inhuman and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and norms."

Earlier, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said there was no excuse for an attack "by armed forces on a humanitarian convoy."

"The Palestinian government strongly condemns this crime, which portrays, once again, Israeli disrespect for the lives of innocent civilians, and its disrespect for international law," Fayyad said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for three days of mourning in the Palestinian territories, while Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator said the attack was "on civilians who came from all over the world peacefully with wheelchairs and food supplies and medical supplies."

Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, said: "The Israeli occupation tries to deny this massacre by saying that the activists on the boat are from Hamas and Muslim brotherhood and this is a lying campaign, because the activists are international activists and between them are parliament members of western countries and know international peace activists."