People yelled, 'Live ammo!' - Eyewitness Accounts from Sydney Morning Herald

Sydney Morning Herald - 'One man's stomach was opened - his intestines were out and the doctor reached inside and pulled out some bullets, before pushing everything back in and wrapping him up.'

'It was like a scary movie - their helmets were shiny, the sea was shiny and battleships sat off on either side.'

'It seemed hopeless for the Israelis - they tried to lock-on their grappling hooks, but they were hit by the fire hoses and their own projectiles going back to them.'

THE JOURNEY SO FAR

May 14 The 1200-tonne MV Rachel Corrie leaves Dundalk, Ireland, enroute to meet other boats in the ''Freedom Flotilla'', which aims to deliver 10,000 tonnes of medical and humanitarian aid to the blockadedpeople of Gaza.

May 18 Ireland's ambassador in Jerusalem urges Israel to allow ''safe delivery of these … supplies''.

May 22 Herald correspondent Paul McGeough and Herald photographer Kate Geraghty arrive in Agios Nikolaos, Crete, where the Free Gaza Movement is preparing two passenger vessels, the MV Amal(''hope'') and MV Samoud (''steadfast'') to join the flotilla.

May 25 Two ships, a 2000-tonne cargo vessel and a 50-person passenger vessel, leave Athens to join the flotilla.

May 26 The editor of the Herald, Peter Fray, sends a letter to Israel's ambassador to Australia confirming the bona fides ofMcGeough and Geraghty, asserting their right to travel with the flotilla and ''in the event that Israel apprehends the vessel on which they are travelling'' urges Israel to allow them ''the freedom to pursue their journalistic duty, and to give them passage from Israel's area of control''. The ambassador later confirms he passed the letter to Israeli authorities.

May 27 After delays, the MV Amal and MV Samoud, with McGeough and Geraghty aboard, depart Crete, headed for the meeting point south ofCyprus.

May 28 MV Mavi Marmara, with 600 activists on board, leaves Istanbul, Turkey, to join the flotilla.

May 29 McGeough and Geraghty transfer to the Mavi Marmara after technical difficulties on the Samoud and Amal. The MV Rachel Corrie isdays behind schedule due to technical difficulties.

May 30 The final fleet of six vessels meet south of Cyprus and begin their journey towards Gaza City port.

May 31 1am McGeough and Geraghty are moved back to the MV Samoud. Soon after, the crew spot inflatable military boats. ''Searchlights scan the water. Now there are five of them astern,'' McGeough reports. He later says it felt like ''hyenas hunting in the night''.

4.53 am ''Searchlights are picking up the Zodiacs … radars spinning,armed troops …'' At that moment [11.53am Sydney time] McGeough's satellite phone goes dead. The Herald has no contact with its correspondent or photographer until their deportation to Istanbul on June 3.

Israeli commandos assault the flotilla, meeting resistance on the Mavi Marmara. At least nine activists are killed and dozens wounded.

June 1-2 McGeough and Geraghty are taken into custody in Israel along with the nearly 700 others. McGeough's phone is snatched from his hand. Geraghty is hit by some sort of stun gun while working. She suffers bruises, minor burns and nausea. The first mate of the MV Samoud, Irishman Shane Dillon, says he saw Geraghty ''blasted with a Taser'' in what he calls ''an act of piracy''. Her photographic equipment is taken by the Israelis.

June 3 McGeough and Geraghty are deported from Israel to Istanbul. Fray says the Herald will pursue all legal, moral, ethical and journalistic avenues to ensure his staff ''are able to do their jobs as bona fide and excellent journalists''. McGeough says his deportation is ''an absolute disrespect by Israel'' for democracy and the fundamental rights of journalists.