An Israeli drone attacked the largest vessel in the Global Sumud Flotilla, bound for the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Wednesday morning, as it sailed off the coast of Tunisia, causing a fire to break out on board.
Firefighting teams and the ship’s crew were later able to bring the blaze under control and all members of the Flotilla crew survived the attack.
The Global Coordination Committee for the Sumud Flotilla confirmed that the Spanish ship Alma was the vessel targeted while docked in Sidi Bou Said port, Tunisia.
It was the second Israeli drone strike on the flotilla in two days.
On Tuesday, the Sumud Flotilla announced that another boat had been hit late on Monday night by a drone strike, sparking a fire onboard.
The vessel had been sailing near Sidi Bou Said with six people on board at the time of the attack.
In a statement shared via Instagram, the Sumud Flotilla, which departed from Barcelona, Spain as part of a mission to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, said the drone caused material damage to the vessel and denounced the attack as an ‘act of aggression aimed at obstructing its humanitarian mission’.
The drone strikes come as the Flotilla continues preparing to head toward besieged Gaza, in a major international initiative intended to challenge the longstanding blockade.
Despite the escalating threats, the Flotilla’s organisers confirmed during a press conference in Tunisia that the mission would sail to Gaza as planned on Wednesday, regardless of circumstances.
They added that an official investigation into the attacks is ongoing but affirmed that the incident will not deter the mission or change its course.
Organisers also reported that Tunisian authorities denied authorisation for the press conference, forcing them to hold it outdoors in the street.
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, expressed support for the Flotilla and affirmed that the drone attack will not derail the mission.
She praised participants for standing in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
The Flotilla is expected to reach Gaza by mid-September, following two previous attempts, blocked by Israeli forces in June and July, to deliver aid by sea.
The Sumud Flotilla includes activists, European lawmakers, and public figures, such as former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, Portuguese MP Mariana Mortágua, and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The mission is coordinated by a coalition of groups including the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Global Gaza Movement, the Sumud Convoy, and Malaysia’s Nusantara Solidarity Organisation.
Together, they have assembled hundreds of participants from 44 countries, sailing aboard more than 70 ships loaded with medical supplies and humanitarian aid, the largest such Flotilla to head toward Gaza since maritime solidarity missions began.
Wael Nawar, a member of the Joint Coordination Committee for Palestine, stated that over 1,000 participants from 44 countries are preparing to sail, despite looming threats.
He confirmed that the Flotilla is ready for all scenarios, including bureaucratic obstacles, Israeli drone attacks, arrests by Israeli soldiers, or safe arrival in Gaza.
The Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) ‘Family Boat’ was struck by an Israeli drone near Tunisian waters on Monday, while Tunisian authorities deny any such attack took place.
A spokesman for the GSF said the attack late on Monday at Tunisia’s Sidi Bou Said port was carried out by the Israeli regime, while the Tunisian National Guard denied any assault, attributing the fire instead to a cigarette butt or lighter that ignited a life jacket.
The incident on the Family Boat, which operates under a Portuguese flag and is transporting members of the group’s steering committee, occurred at 11.45pm on Monday.
At the moment of the drone strike, there were six individuals aboard the vessel, and several passengers promptly put out the flames.
All crew members are safe, GSF said in a statement.
The report indicated that the fire inflicted damage on the main deck of the ship as well as the storage area below deck.
The GSF shared several videos on social media platforms, asserting they captured the moment the attack occurred.
A video recorded from a different vessel close to the Family Boat depicted an incendiary device descending onto the boat, resulting in an explosion.
Additionally, another video obtained from the security cameras of the Family Boat illustrates crew members glancing upwards and recoiling just prior to the explosion.
Miguel Duarte, who was aboard the Family Boat and witnessed the incident, stated that he observed a drone hovering over the vessel before it dropped an explosive device.
‘I was standing in the back part of the ship, the aft deck, and I heard a drone,’ Duarte said in the video posted online.
‘I saw a drone clearly about 4 metres (13 feet) above my head. I called someone. We were looking at the drone, just above our heads, really,’ he recounted.
The drone came to a stop adjacent to the two crew members, then gradually advanced to the forward deck of the vessel, dropping what he described as ‘obviously a bomb’.
‘There was a huge explosion, lots of fire, big, big flames … We could have been killed,’ Duarte added.
The GSF members stated that the attack was carried out by the Israeli regime, referencing the Israeli military’s past attacks on ships destined for Gaza.
‘There is no other authority that would do such an attack, such a crime, except the Israeli authorities,’ spokesman Saif Abukeshek said in a video posted on the GSF’s official Instagram page.
‘They have been committing genocide for the past 22 months, and they are willing to attack a peaceful, non-violent flotilla,’ he added.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, which derives its name from the Arabic term for ‘steadfastness’, consists of more than 50 vessels transporting individuals from various nations, such as medical professionals, reporters, and campaigners.
The flotilla departed from Barcelona in late August, accompanied by another group from Genoa, Italy, and left Tunisia for Gaza on Wednesday, yesterday.
The initiative seeks to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza and provide humanitarian assistance to the besieged territory.
It is the latest and largest Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) mission to set sail for Gaza in an attempt to break Israel’s US-backed genocidal siege on the embattled Palestinian territory.
The FFC has attempted numerous times to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza via sea and deliver aid to Palestinians there.
In July, Israeli forces intercepted the Handala, a Gaza-bound FFC ship carrying aid and activists.
The unarmed boat was boarded by Israeli forces, its passengers abducted, and its cargo seized, FFC said at the time.
In June, the Madleen ship, another Gaza-bound vessel launched by FFC, was intercepted by the Israeli military in international waters, and activists on board, including climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg, were kidnapped by the regime forces.
In May, the Conscience was struck twice by Israeli drones, just 25km off the coast of Malta.
The attack triggered a fire and caused a significant breach in the hull, forcing the 30 activists on board into a desperate effort to bail out water and keep the ship afloat.
Last month, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that famine is occurring in the Gaza Governorate as of August 15.
Currently, over half a million Palestinians face starvation; by next month, the number could exceed 640,000.
The Israeli regime has killed at least 64,605 Palestinians, mainly women and children, in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
