Israel's State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss is set to release a critical report on a deadly commando raid aboard an international aid flotilla to the Gaza Strip in May 2010, in which nine Turkish nationals were killed and several soldiers wounded.

Lindenstrauss has already issued a draft report on the raid early last year. The final version, which will be submitted to the parliament's review committee later this week, is expected to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak for their handling of the incident, which dealt a heavy blow to the Israeli-Turkish ties.

The final report is expected to focus on the decision-making process in the government prior to the raid, the lack of early intelligence on the violent resistance planned by the aid workers and the performance of the public relations campaign before and after the incident.

Unnamed officials reckoned over the weekend that the comptroller will accuse Barak of failing to conduct proper planning ahead of the raid. Instead, the defense minister formulated an operational plan to stop the flotilla from breaching the maritime blockade Israel imposed on Gaza in just a few meetings with Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the Yediot Aharonot daily reported Sunday.

In January 2010, a state-appointed probe panel largely exonerated the government of any wrongdoing in the affair, concluding that the use of naval commandos to stop the flotilla was in line with international law, and that they had reacted properly to the situation aboard the vessel.

According to a recent report in the Ha'aretz daily, the publication of the final report was delayed due to a legal battle waged by those who could potentially be harmed by its findings.

A heated debate is expected to take place in the parliament's review committee following the report's release, with some of its members planning to demand that a ban be removed on publishing certain findings deemed as classified.