Turkey May Indict Israeli Generals Over Flotilla Raid A prosecutor in Turkey has prepared indictments and recommended life sentences for four senior Israeli generals over the killings of nine activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla forcibly intercepted by Israeli commandos two years ago, Turkish news services reported Wednesday. The indictments, which have not been formally approved by the Turkish judiciary, could further estrange the once-close relations between Turkey and Israel, which deteriorated badly following the flotilla raid on May 31, 2010. Israel has consistently rejected Turkey's demand that it formally apologize for the deadly commando raid and lift its blockade of Gaza. Turkey's semiofficial Anatolia News Agency said the prosecutor, Mehmet Akif Ekinci, had prepared a 144-page indictment package that would seek life imprisonment for Gabi Ashkenazi, the former chief of general staff for the Israel Defense Forces; Vice Adm. Eliezer Marom, former commander of naval forces; Gen. Amos Yadlin, the former military intelligence chief; and Brig. Gen. Avishai Levy, the former head of air force intelligence. The indictment further recommended that the four receive additional prison terms totaling 18,000 years for what it called other crimes committed by the Israeli side during the flotilla raid. A six-vessel convoy, led by the passenger ship Mavi Marmara sailing under the Turkish flag, was stopped by Israeli commandos in international waters as it headed toward the coast of Gaza with what activists described as a cargo of emergency relief to help Gaza's Palestinian population cope with an Israeli-imposed embargo. Israel asserted that it had the legal right to stop the activists from violating the embargo, which was intended to prevent shipments of weapons to Palestinian militants. The nine activists killed included eight Turks and an American of Turkish descent. A United Nations report on the raid released last September concluded that Israel had been within its legal rights to stop the flotilla but had used excessive and unreasonable force. The Turkish indictment said the commandos, armed with rifles and other weapons, had used them against passengers who had "plastic flag masts, spoons and forks."