Are these the photos that prove Israeli soldiers were attacked by activists when they stormed flotilla?

'Resistance': Protesters hold down an Israeli soldier. Israel claims the images show activists onboard the vessel were ready for violence

Pro-Palestinian activists hold down an Israeli commando on the Gaza-bound Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in the international waters of Mediterranean sea

Chaos: An Israel soldier is pushed to the floor by activists after troops stormed the ship last week, in which nine people were killed

'Evidence': A wounded Israeli soldier during the violent clash with activists. Israel claims the photos show troops were met with resistance

Dramatic pictures of bloodied Israeli troops being overpowered by pro-Palestinian activists on the stormed Gaza aid ship emerged yesterday.

Images from the Mavi Marmara show them in distress - one appearing to depict a commando at the mercy an angry mob with blood pouring from a stomach wound.

The photos, taken by an unidentified person on the ship, have caused anger in Israel and came as Iran promised a military escort for cargo ships attempting to break the blockade of Gaza. Ratcheting up the tension in the region, Iran's feared Revolutionary Guard offered to protect any more maritime convoys bound for the disputed territory.


Seized: Israeli troops use boats to approach the Rachel Corrie yesterday

Several Israeli commandos step on board the Mavi Marmara ship in an operation which saw nine people shot dead

Ali Shiraz, a representative of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said: 'Iran's Revolutionary Guard's naval forces are fully prepared to escort the peace and freedom-convoys to Gaza with all their powers and capabilities.'
Two more ships are expected to sail from Lebanon this week and any direct Iranian intervention would be considered an act of extreme provocation by Israel.

The pictures, published yesterday in the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, appear to contradict claims from activists that they did not attack Israeli troops in the botched raid on May 31 which killed nine people.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev seized on the publication of the photos and claimed they showed 'that our boarding party in fact did face deadly violence from the hardcore Islamist activists on the boat from the fundamentalists'.
An Israeli commando, who claims he shot dead six of the activists in the seizure of the boat, said he landed to find three of his men lying wounded and an activist pointing a loaded pistol at the head of one of his soldiers.

'When I hit the deck, I was immediately attacked by people with bats, metal pipes and axes,' the commando told the Jerusalem Post newspaper. Israel has suffered worldwide condemnation over the raid and the latest pictures will come as a timely boost for its version of events.
But the PR battle over the attack took another twist yesterday as a member of the Turkish group IHH, which organised the flotilla, said the images showed activists 'intervening' or 'tending' to the injured soldiers.

The charity, which said it took the pictures, is banned in Israel because of its close ties to the Hamas militant group.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government last night rejected an offer from the United Nations for an international commission to investigate the deadly raid on the flotilla which killed nine people.
The clear intent of this hostile group was to initiate a violent clash with IDF soldiers.’

Mr Netanyahu did not say where the information came from. But Israeli military officials have claimed there is strong evidence that the men who fought the soldiers were hired mercenaries.

The organisers deny the allegations.

Videos released by the army have shown a crowd of men attacking several naval commandos as they landed on a ship from a helicopter, beating the soldiers with clubs and other objects.
The army has displayed pictures of knives, slingshots and metal rods confiscated from the crowd, and other video seized from reporters and security cameras on board the ship appear to show a group of young man brandishing clubs and other weapons ahead of the arrival of the soldiers.

UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon had proposed that Geoffrey Palmer, a former prime minister of New Zealand, would lead the probe along with representatives from Turkey, which lost eight people in the raid.
But Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to America, said Benjamin Netanyahu's administration had the ability and the right to investigate its own military.

Yesterday a group of Malaysian activists were deported from Israel after trying to sail to Gaza on Irish-owned ship the Rachel Corrie. The Irish aboard the ship are expected to be deported today after two nights in custody.

Israel and Egypt clamped a tight security cordon around the Palestinian enclave after Hamas seized control of the area in a bloody fighting with their Fatah rivals in July 2007.
Yesterday's announcement by Iran represents a dramatic step-up in the rhetoric from Tehran. The Revolutionary Guard, with their own navy, air force and command structure, are seen as fiercely loyal to the values of the Islamic Republic.

'If the supreme leader issues an order for this then the Revolutionary Guard naval forces will do their best to secure the ships,' Khamenei's spokesman added. 'It is Iran's duty to defend the innocent people of Gaza.'