South Africa is recalling its ambassador to Israel in the wake of the deadly raid on an aid convoy bound for the Gaza Strip, the government said on Thursday.

"The recall of ambassador Ishmael Coovadia is to show our strongest condemnation of the attack. This recent Israel aggression of attacking the aid flotilla severely impacts on finding a lasting solution to the problems of the region," junior foreign minister Ebrahim Ebrahim told journalists in Pretoria.

"We are recalling him for consultation which suggests that after consultation he will go back to Tel Aviv. It's not a permanent recall," Ebrahim added.

The South African government has already condemned the attack on the flotilla on Monday, in which nine people were killed, as "a gross violation of international law."

Ebrahim said that a South African who was part of the flotilla had been released from Israeli detention.

"Ms Gadija Davids, was in fact on one of these flights arranged by the Turkish government that left Tel Aviv late last night and will in fact tomorrow be landing in South Africa," he said.

Since the fall of the whites-only apartheid regime in 1994, South Africa has been an outspoken critic of Israel and infuriated the Jewish state with its willingness to meet members of the Islamist movement Hamas which rules Gaza.

(AFP)