Israel is not cooperating with the United Nations U.N. Human Rights Council's probe of May's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, and it was unclear if investigators will be able to speak with Israeli soldiers involved, a U.N. official said Tuesday.

Juan Carlos Monge, a U.N. human rights officer working with the fact-finding mission, said the panel was speaking with other witnesses and government officials in Turkey and Jordan.

But Israel hasn't granted an invitation to the team, which is examining whether Israeli commandos broke international law by killing nine pro-Palestinian activists trying to break the Jewish state's blockade of Gaza. Eight of the dead activists were Turks, and the ninth was Turkish-American. Israel says the soldiers acted in self defense.

Monge said in an e-mail to the Associated Press that the mission would only speak with Israeli soldiers about the incident if permission was given by the Israeli government. Such approval is important to the investigation if it hopes to be objective, but Israel has refused to work with council probes in the past, citing their bias.

Israel's U.N. mission said Tuesday it will not comment on the investigation, but Israeli officials have suggested since the panel's creation in June that the Jewish state would not cooperate. Israel considers the Human Rights Council to be anti-Israel, and points to a series of critical resolutions by the body in its four-year history.

U.N. team in Turkey

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met with Sir Desmond de Silva, a member of the International Fact-Finding Mission of the UN Human Rights Council set up to examine the Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, in capital Ankara on Monday.

Officials from the Foreign Ministry said that Davutoğlu and de Silva discussed the raid on Mavi Marmara ship and developments in the following period.

Officials quoted Davutoğlu as saying that the stance to be assumed by international community was very important, because it would help the issue to be cleared up and also contribute to peace by showing that no country was superior to international law.

Davutoğlu said that Turkey was ready to fully cooperate with UN commissions. "If you have any question, you can ask now. I am ready to share all information with you," he said in the meeting.

Davutoğlu said he hoped that Israeli party would also have cooperation with the UN missions.

Members of the international mission are expected to hold a series of talks in Ankara, Istanbul and the southern town of İskenderun till August 29.

As part of their visit, the delegation will come together with a national investigation commission, listen to those injured in the attack and the witnesses, and meet executives of Turkish ministries and institutions.

Committee members will also examine the "Mavi Marmara", "Defne Y" and "Gazze" aid ships.

Israel is working with a separate U.N. group under New Zealand's ex-Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and Colombia's ex-President Alvaro Uribe that is also examining the incident, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.

But Palmor said the 47-nation rights council "deals obsessively and morbidly with Israel." Former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva, Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam are investigating on behalf of the rights council.

They will present their report to the council on Sept. 27. The separate examination ordered by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon includes an Israeli and a Turkish representative on the panel, and both countries have pledged cooperation.

Associated Press, Anatolia News Agency