An activist group seeking to siege Israel’s Gaza by the sea said one of its main boats was hit by a drone at a Tunisian port Monday night, but that six passengers and all crew members were safe.
The Tunisian National Guard said the allegations of attacks on global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) boats at Sidi Bou were “not based on the truth.” The initial investigation found that a lighter or cigarette butt caused a fire in the container.
However, in a video of the incident issued by the GSF, an object of fired Cen eye fell from the sky exploded on a boat impact.
The GSF said Struck Struck is known as the “family boat” that previously carried members of the GSF steering committee. It said the Portuguese inflamed ship had been fire damaged to its main deck and below-deck storage.
On Tuesday, the group said another boat in the fleet was attacked by a drone while docked into the Tunisian waters.
“Alma” sailing under the British flag was damaged by a fire on its top deck, GSF said in a statement. The fire had disappeared and all passengers and crew were safe, the group said.
“These repeated attacks come during the intensifying Israeli invasions against the Palestinians in Gaza, and are compiled attempts to divert and derail our mission,” the GSF said.
The vessels are two of the approximately 50 people in the fleet to break Israel’s naval blockade and carry aid to Gaza. Flotilla left Barcelona last week and is scheduled to sail across the Mediterranean to a besieged enclave. Its members include Swedish activist Greta Samberg and Irish actor Liam Cunningham.
“Family Boat” carries some of the most popular members of the fleet these days, including Tanburgh.
At a press conference near Tunisian Port, Portuguese activist Miguel Duarte, a family boat ride, explained how he heard the bustling overhead of a drone late on Monday evening.
“I came out of the deck cover and saw a drone about 3-4 metres of its head floating,” Duarte said Tuesday.
He said another person came to the deck to see the drone, which “moved to the front part of the deck” and “dropped a bomb,” causing a fire inside the ship.
“This is a shameful attack and we are not deterred,” Duarte told reporters.
Munitions expert and director of Military Research Services (ARES), Nr Jenzen-Jones said the available images and videos of the remnants found in the second incident of “Alma” appear to show “what is “usually the old ammunition in the hands between the ruins of melted synthetic bags and pouches.”
“This could be a hand-ren bullet from a fired Cen bullet, or a hand-ren bullet from smoke, which is used to ignite a fired Cen-like composition in a bag,” added Jensen Jones.
He said the feature “is not common but not exclusive to some models of Israeli hand rena bullets.”
“The visual signature of munitions that rain on fleet ships in two attacks coincides with a previously documented incident in which incited ammunition was deployed by what is generally considered to be Israeli UAVs,” Jensen Jones said.
Since Israel imposed a complete blockade of Gaza in March, groups like the GSF have tried to sail aid-carrying ships to the enclave, even though Israel intercepted them.
In May, a Gaza-bound aid vessel started a fire and issued an SOS. After organizers claimed it was an Israeli drone attack along Malta in international waters. The Israeli military declined to comment on the incident.
In June, a yacht with 12 activists, including Samberg, was intercepted off the coast of Gaza. Israel dismissed it as a “selfie yacht” carrying “less than a single truck aid.”
CNN has asked Israeli forces for comments on Monday’s incident in Tunisia.
In a statement, the GSF said, “Aggression aimed at threatening and derailing our mission will not stop us.”
