A Canadian man who was aboard a ship headed for Gaza that was stormed by Israeli soldiers nearly a week ago has arrived home in Victoria.
Kevin Neish arrived in Toronto Saturday afternoon before flying on to Victoria International Airport, where he was greeted by a cheering throng of family, friends and supporters.
Neish, a 53-year-old retired marine engineer, was detained in Israel for three days after the raid on the Turkish vessel in international waters off the Gaza coast.
"Sixteen murders, a hijacking and kidnapping 600 people and three days of brutish, bloody assaults on all of us," Neish said in an impromptu press conference. "And there's still some people there."
While the official death toll from last week's raid stands at nine, Neish put the number of dead at 16.
The raid sparked widespread condemnation among the international community. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has vowed to lead an international commission to investigate the incident.
The raid occurred Monday on one vessel of a six-ship flotilla attempting to break the three-year-old Israeli blockade of Gaza and bring supplies to the region's 1.5 million residents.
Israeli officials defended the actions of soldiers, who appear on video in violent confrontation with the activists aboard the ship. Israeli officials have said soldiers had to defend themselves from passengers armed with clubs and sticks.
While Neish admitted some of his shipmates were armed with chains, pipes and sticks, he also said he witnessed Israeli soldiers firing on the boat from helicopters hovering overhead.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Sunday that the Turkish activists who battled Israeli naval commandos in the deadly clash last week had prepared for the fight ahead of time. He said they boarded the ship separately from other passengers after they organized and equipped themselves.
Neish said he and other detainees were mistreated during their three days in Israeli custody.
"I left with a 50-pound suitcase, and a 22-pound carry-on, came back with the carry-on," Neish told reporters in Toronto.
"Fifty pounds of luggage gone, 400 bucks gone, all my information, all my ID gone, all stolen by the Israeli army."
Neish said he was able to bring home the memory chip from his camera, which contains "pretty graphic" photographs of the events on the ship.
Neish's voice broke when he said he was happy to be home. However, he said a number of activists have pledged to send ships to the region to continue efforts to break the blockade, and he vowed to join them.
"They asked me to go again, and I said I would," Neish said. "It might not be right away though."
