Tunis: Activists carrying aid to Gaza from Europe have claimed that one of the boats of their flotilla was struck by a drone while anchored about 80 km off the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is on one of the boats.
Tunisian authorities have, however, dismissed the theory of a drone strike and said that the fire started inside the boat, probably due to a burning cigarette tossed carelessly on a heap of life jackets.
The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) for Gaza comprises 20 boats carrying food, water and other supplies for civilians in Gaza who are allegedly facing a famine-like situation due to continuing strikes by Israel against the Hamas.
Israel, meanwhile, is making preparations to arrest Thunberg and her colleagues and seize the boats. The newspaper Israel Hayom has reported that the country’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is drawing out the plans. The boats will be seized and converted into a police fleet.
Thunberg had attempted a mission similar to this one a few months ago. She had then been detained by Israeli authorities and sent back to Sweden. The boat she was on was captured.
Israel has imposed a naval blockade around the Gaza Strip to prevent weapons from reaching the Hamas. This has impacted the movement of vital supplies to citizens.
According to the GSF, the Portuguese-flagged boat, carrying the flotilla’s steering committee, sustained fire damage to its main deck and below-deck storage in the drone strike. There were no injuries though.
“I was sleeping and woke up due to the explosion. A big explosion happened right next to our diesel tank. The neighbouring boats spotted a drone coming in. They said it flew above basically where I was sleeping, and then it went to the front and detonated,” Yusuf Omar, a journalist who is among the dozens of activists, posted on Instagram.
Seen TV reported another activist as saying: “I saw a drone dropping a bomb on us… There was a fire on the front deck that we fought. It is out now. Everybody’s safe.”
The drone attack on the flotilla “have no basis in truth”, Tunisian authorities said. The country’s National Guard said their investigation was ongoing but “no drones have been detected”.
“According to preliminary findings, a fire broke out in the life jackets on board a ship anchored 50 miles from the port of Sidi Bou Said,” Houcem Eddine Jebabli, a spokesperson for the National Guard told news agency AFP.
The flotilla left Barcelona on August 31, carrying food, water and medicine in what activists claimed was the largest civilian maritime mission of the war so far. But just hours into the journey, the flotilla had to return to port due to adverse weather conditions, only to resume its journey two days later.
“We all know why we are here. Just across the water, there’s a genocide going on, a mass starvation by Israel’s murder machine,” Thunberg said after reaching Tunisia.
The flotilla is scheduled to reach Israeli waters later this month, but the country’s forces are likely to intercept the boats before they can reach the Gaza Strip.