IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gabi Ashkenazi has appointed Major-General (Res.) Giora Eiland to head a team of experts in order to examine the flotilla operation and establish lessons from the event.

Eiland and his team are to determine the outcome and lessons learnt from the operation. The team will analyze the various investigations already being carried out within the IDF regarding the operation, looking into the findings found in common.

A team of experts was appointed due to the great significance the IDF attributes to reviewing the operation on May 31st, 2010 to enforce the maritime closure of the Gaza Strip.

The team of experts will present its findings to the IDF Chief of the General Staff by July 4th, 2010.

The team is also made up of Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Aviv Kochavi, the former head of the Operations Division, Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Yuval Chalamish, former head of the IDF Intelligence and a senior member of the Israeli National Security Council, and Col. (Res.) Ben Tzion Daabul, the former head of the Israel Navy Operational Branch and a senior figure at the defense establishment’s controller’s bureau.

A team of experts differs from an investigative team in that it is made up of a group of professionals with expertise on the matter, and were not a part of the operational chain of command during this specific incident. The IDF carries out examinations and investigations of various operations and exercises of this kind routinely and following Operation Cast Lead.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem / IDF Spokesman)