Mr Luqman said he was on the back deck of the flotilla flagship the Mavi Marmara, running to get inside, when he saw a laser sight settle on his leg.

srael says its troops were justified in opening fire after being attacked by a small band of violent activists, but Mr Luqman says that is simply fiction.

"None of us know anything about fighting and none of us intended to fight. [We're] peaceful people," he said.

He denied any of the activists were looking for a confrontation and said some simply responded defensively when the Israelis opened fire.

Colborne, 43, from London, insisted the activists on the boat were on a purely humanitarian mission and the passengers were aged between one and 89.

The third soldier, however, suffered a cut in his stomach that reached his stomach membrane but not the organ itself. It was nothing fatal. As a doctor, I wouldn't want to guess the nature of this injury but it could have been caused by either landing on a sharp pole from the helicopter or a blow from a pipe with a sharp edge. I couldn't tell.

‏¹ http://news.walla.co.il/?w=//1682918
‏² http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1172392.html
‏³ http://tbk.mako.co.il/article/869885