Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but retained control of the territory's borders. Hamas emerged as the predominant force in the territory. In January 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian Authority (PA) legislative elections and established itself as a major actor in domestic politics. Some countries and organizations, including Turkey, consider Hamas a democratically elected, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Israel considers Hamas to be a terrorist group, and the U.S. State Department designates it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Hamas has criticized peace talks with Israel in line with its commitment to resistance, has perpetrated terrorist attacks against Israel, and has launched rockets from Gaza into Israel. Hamas's participation in politics heightened its rivalry with Fatah, which had led all previous Palestinian governments. It also prompted the United States to end all direct foreign aid to the Palestinians. Under pressure from Saudi Arabia, Hamas and Fatah formed a unity government in February 2007, which proved to be short-lived. In what it considered a pre-emptive act to prevent Fatah from striking it first, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force in June 2007. This "coup" prompted PA President Mahmud Abbas to dissolve the Hamas-led government and replace it with the current one under Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who administers only the West Bank. Hamas remains in control of Gaza. Israel and the United States reestablished relations with the new PA government, and Israel imposed a tight land, sea, and air blockade on the Gaza Strip, in what it describes as an act of self-defense to prevent arms from reaching Hamas. With the blockade, Israel also hoped to turn Gazans against Hamas by contrasting Hamas rule with the better life of Palestinians in the West Bank. Instead, the blockade isolated the territory and helped to strengthen Hamas's control. From December 2008 to January 2009, Israeli forces carried out a major military offensive, called Operation Cast Lead, against Hamas in order to stop rocket fire into southern Israel and to weaken or overthrow Hamas. The campaign resulted in more than 1,000 Palestinian deaths and the destruction of much of the Gaza Strip's infrastructure and many buildings. Afterwards, Israel tightened the blockade and conditioned its end on the release of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Sergeant Gilad Shalit, who had been captured in 2006. The blockade has severely affected the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, although Israel and its critics differ about the effects. The Israeli government maintains that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the IDF issues a detailed Weekly Summary of Humanitarian Aid Transferred into Gaza to support that position. The Ministry of Defense Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) issues a similar Gaza Strip Merchandise and Humanitarian Aid Report . They provide information on the number of trucks and persons allowed to enter Gaza and list the cargos of food, medicine, and other supplies. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) issues contrasting regular reports on the situation in Gaza. It summarily states that the blockade has "worsened conditions of life of Palestinians, deepened poverty and food insecurity, prevented reconstruction, and increased aid dependence by destroying livelihoods and economic activity." It refers to the blockade as "collective punishment." U.S. non-governmental humanitarian aid organizations, such as CARE and Mercy Corps, report difficulties experienced in rebuilding Gaza more than a year after Cast Lead, as well as obstacles that their workers face in trying to provide assistance because they cannot simultaneously accommodate U.S., Israeli, and Hamas rules—and Hamas is in control. Gazans have been unable to repair public infrastructure—hospitals, schools, electric systems, or sewage treatment plants—because Israel will not permit the delivery of materials such as steel, concrete, and tiles that could be used both for rebuilding and for the manufacture of weapons or other military purposes. In recent years, humanitarian aid groups have sent supply ships and activists to Gaza. However, Israel directs them to land at its port of Ashdod for inspection before delivery to Gaza. In addition to the deliveries allowed by Israel, Egypt intermittently opens the border crossing at Rafah with Gaza that it sealed in 2007. Moreover, the smuggling of goods (and weapons) via a network of tunnels under the border also relieves the blockade somewhat, but smuggled goods create economic distortions by fueling a large informal economy. Israeli planes often bomb the tunnels, but these attacks have not put a stop to the activity. On May 22, 2010, the MV Mavi Marmara , a former Istanbul passenger ferry owned by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (more fully the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH)), left Istanbul and, after stopping in the Mediterranean port of Antalya to pick up more than 500 passengers, met up at sea with five other ships south of Cyprus. IHH also sent two cargo vessels. Several ships from the Free Gaza Movement had departed from the Greek port of Piraeus. A six-ship flotilla then set sail for the Gaza Strip with the intent to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid and to break the Israeli blockade. In all, about 700 activists from 38 countries participated in the expedition, including approximately 11 Americans, some European parliamentarians, and Swedish writer Henning Mankell. On May 30, the ships refused Israel's offer to unload at the port of Ashdod so that their cargos could be inspected before delivery accompanied by representatives of the non-governmental organizations. On May 31, when the ships were in international waters between 80 and 100 miles from the Israeli coast, Israeli navy zodiac boats intercepted them and naval commandos took over five ships, reportedly without incident. However, the Marmara resisted and commandos rappelled from helicopters onto that ship and were confronted by some passengers/activists. The IDF released videos showing that individuals attacking the commandos were armed with iron rods, knives, broken glass bottles, and sling shots, and equipped with gas masks, night vision goggles, and life vests. The IDF says that the passengers also seized a commando's side arm. IHH President Bulent Yildirim admitted that activists had used iron rods, but claimed that they threw seized Israeli weapons into the sea. It is not clear if the commandos, who had paintball guns and firearms, struck first or in response to an attack from the passengers, and each side has given a different account. Nine passengers were killed, including eight Turks and a Turkish-American; 24 were injured, including one American, and 10 commandos were injured. The dead were members of or volunteers for IHH, which hailed them as "martyrs." All of the ships were taken to Ashdod, where the passengers were detained and the cargo was unloaded, inspected, and trucked to the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza. Hamas initially refused to allow the aid to be transferred into Gaza and the Israeli Defense Ministry stored it at a military base while it consulted international organizations. On June 15, it was announced that the U.N. would distribute the aid. By June 3, Israel had deported all the detainees, including all alleged perpetrators of the attacks on its military personnel, except for a few severely wounded who were repatriated a few days later. Israeli officials claim to have found Molotov cocktails, detonators, wood and metal clubs, slingshots and rocks, large hammers, and sharp metal objects on the Marmara , but no rockets. The flotilla was the idea of the Free Gaza Movement, which teamed up with the IHH. The Free Gaza Movement is a Cyprus-based coalition or alliance formed to oppose Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and is said to have roots in the International Solidarity Movement, a non-violent movement dedicated to ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. Its members had sailed to Gaza several times before, and Israel had let them dock there five times. After Operation Cast Lead, however, Israel began intercepting Free Gaza Movement ships before they reached Gaza. This year, Free Gaza decided to cooperate with other groups, including the IHH, in a "freedom" flotilla. Free Gaza Movement founder Greta Berlin said that former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed had raised €300,000 (approximately $367,000) to enable the Movement's participation in the convoy. She said that it will continue to send ships to Gaza, and Israel peacefully intercepted another one, the MV R achel Corrie , on June 5. IHH is a humanitarian aid organization founded in 1995 that is said to have ties to the International Red Cross; holds special consultative status with the U.N. Economic, Social, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and operates in more than 100 countries. It has provided humanitarian aid to Bosnia and Chechnya as well as to victims of Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti, among other activities. IHH's involvement with the aid flotilla is in line with its previous aid to Gaza, where it has an office. In addition to the Mavi Marmara , IHH contributed two cargo ships to the May convoy. Days before the raid, an Israeli think tank released a report linking IHH to radical Islamist networks, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, and to "global jihad elements" in the 1990s. It cited a French intelligence report claim that IHH President Bulent Yildirim had recruited Muslims for jihad in Bosnia, Chechnya, and Afghanistan in the 1990s, but also stated that IHH engages in "legitimate humanitarian activities." Since the incident, the think tank has released additional reports, including one alleging that IHH employed violence on the Mavi Marmara with premeditation.