BBC news with David Legge.

Israel says it’s decided to cooperate with the United Nations’ investigation into its commando raid on a Gaza aid flotilla in May. Israel had previously said there was no need for an international probe into the incident in which 9 activists from Turkey and the United States were killed. Turkey has welcomed the UN investigation. Here’s our UN correspondent Barbara Plett.

The panel's mandate is to review the results of the two national inquires into the raid, ask for additional information if necessary and recommend ways of avoiding such incidents in the future. The UN officials insist this is an investigative body, not simply an international review panel to supervise the Turkish and Israeli inquires. However, that appears to be a matter of interpretation for the two countries, with the Turks stressing the “investigation” and the Israelis stressing the “review”. But both see this as the crucial step necessary to defuse tensions between them. UN diplomats say that’s one of the reasons Israel dropped its refusal to participate.