The panel will be led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and would also have one Israeli and one Turkish member, who were not identified, Ban said in a statement.
The group would start work on Aug. 10 and submit its first progress report by mid-September, the U.N. secretary-general said.
Ban’s announcement came shortly after Israeli officials said the Jewish state had decided to cooperate with Ban’s inquiry proposal. Israel has already conducted its own military investigation and a civilian one is under way.
Israel’s Haaretz daily reported on its website that a forum of seven top Israeli ministers had given its backing to the probe, but an Israeli government spokesman would not immediately comment on the report.
Israel has until now rejected calls for an international independent investigation into the commando raid, in which nine Turkish activists were shot dead, and instead launched two internal inquiries.
Ban thanked the leaders of Israel and Turkey “for their spirit of compromise and forward-looking cooperation” which made possible what he called “an unprecedented development.
“I hope that today’s agreement will impact positively on the relationship between Turkey and Israel as well as the overall situation in the Middle East,” he added.
Ban said the panel would give him recommendations “for the prevention of similar incidents in the future.”
The May 31 Israeli commando raid on the aid flotilla, which sparked a deep crisis in already strained relations between Turkey and Israel, once close allies.
Ankara has urged the Jewish state to apologize, compensate the families of the victims and lift the blockade of Gaza to repair the relations.
Israel says its commandos used force only after they were attacked with sticks and stabbed as soon as they landed on the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara
Source: Al Arabiya