Gaza aid flotilla says boat struck by drone at Tunisian port

Emilio Morenatti/AP via CNN Newsource

(CNN) — An activist group seeking to break Israel’s siege on Gaza by sea said one of its main boats was struck by a drone at a port in Tunisia on Monday night, but all six passengers and crew are safe.

Tunisia’s National Guard said claims of an attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) boat at the Sidi Bou Said port were “not based in truth.” It said an initial investigation found that a fire had broken out on the vessel from a lighter or a cigarette butt.

But a video of the incident, published by GSF, showed an incendiary object fall from the sky and explode on impact with the boat.

GSF said the vessel struck was known as the “Family Boat,” which has previously carried GSF Steering Committee members. It said the Portuguese-flagged ship had sustained fire damage to its main deck and below-deck storage.

On Tuesday, the group said another boat in its fleet was attacked by a drone while docked in Tunisian waters.

The “Alma,” which sails under a British flag, sustained fire damage on its top deck, GSF said in a statement. The fire was extinguished and all passengers and crew were safe, the group said.

“These repeat attacks come during intensified Israeli aggression on Palestinians in Gaza, and are an orchestrated attempt to distract and derail our mission,” GSF said.

The vessels are two of around 50 in the flotilla attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade and carry aid into Gaza. The flotilla left Barcelona last week and plans to sail across the Mediterranean to the besieged enclave. Its members include Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and the Irish actor Liam Cunningham.

The “Family Boat” has carried some of the most high-profile members of the flotilla in recent days, including Thunberg, although she was not onboard at the time of the incident, according to Yusuf Omar, an activist who was onboard.

Speaking at a press conference near the Tunisian port, Miguel Duarte, a Portuguese activist onboard the Family Boat, described how he heard a drone buzzing overhead late Monday evening.

“I came out of the cover of the deck to see a drone hovering about three or four meters above my head,” Duarte said Tuesday.

He said another person came onto the deck to see the drone, which then “moved to the forward part of the deck” and “dropped the bomb,” causing a fire onboard.

“This is a shameful attack, and we will not be deterred,” Duarte told reporters.

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, a munitions specialist and director of Armament Research Services (ARES), said that available images and video of the remnants found from the second incident on the “Alma” appear to show “what would ordinarily be a hand-thrown munition amongst the remains of a melted synthetic bag or pouch.”

“This may be an incendiary grenade, or possibly a smoke grenade used to ignite an incendiary composition held in the bag,” Jenzen-Jones added.

The features, he said, were “common, but not exclusive, to some models of Israeli hand grenades,” adding that better images may reveal more details.

“The visual signature of the munitions descending upon the flotilla ships in the two attacks is generally consistent with previously documented incidents in which incendiary munitions have been deployed by what are believed to be Israeli UAVs,” Jenzen-Jones said.

Since Israel imposed a total blockade of Gaza in March, groups like GSF have attempted to sail ships carrying aid into the enclave, although Israel has intercepted them.

In May, a Gaza-bound aid ship caught fire and issued an SOS, after what its organizers claimed was an Israeli drone attack off the coast of Malta in international waters. The Israeli military declined to comment on the incident.

In June, a yacht with 12 activists onboard, including Thunberg, was intercepted off the coast of Gaza. Israel dismissed it as a “selfie yacht” carrying “less than a single truckload of aid.”

CNN has asked the Israeli military for comment on Monday’s incident in Tunisia.

In a statement, GSF said that “acts of aggression aimed at intimidating and derailing our mission will not deter us.”

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