The Flotilla Global Sumud said Tuesday that one of its boats was attacked by a drone in port in Tunis. The flotilla left Barcelona, Spain, earlier this month and arrived there on Sunday. File Photo by Quique Garcia/EPA
Sept. 9 (UPI) — A boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla heading to Gaza was struck by a drone, the nonviolence coalition said Tuesday.
The Portuguese-flagged Family Boat was at a port in Tunis, Tunisia, when it was struck at about 2 a.m. local time Tuesday, it said on X, stating the flotilla had been “attacked.”
“While all participants are safe, details about the attack remain limited,” it said in an official statement that followed.
Global Sumud Flotilla posted uncorroborated video of the incident shot by a nearby boat to X, showing a streaking flame hitting the deck of Family Boat.
Crew member Miguel Duarte said he saw the drone “clearly” about 13 feet above him.
“It stopped close to us and then moved slowly to the forward part of the ship and dropped what was obviously a bomb,” he said in a video published to the flotilla’s X account.
“There was a huge explosion, lots of fire, big, big flames.”
The purported bomb landed on a pile of life jackets, he said, which caught fire and had to be extinguished.
“Let me be clear: 100% it was a drone dropping a bomb on the forward deck of our ship,” he said.
The flotilla arrived in Tunis on Sunday after departing Spain a week earlier with climate justice Advocate Greta Thunberg aboard.
The Global Sumud Flotilla said it consists of about 50 boats loaded with food and aid and hundreds of activists from more than 45 countries.
Its mission is to break Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian enclave.
“Acts of aggression aimed at intimidating and derailing our mission will not deter us,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement. “Our peaceful mission to break the siege of Gaza and stand in solidarity with its people continues with determination and resolve.”
Israel has enforced a land, sea and air blockade of Gaza since Hamas‘ takeover of the enclave in 2007. The blockade has further been tightened since the Iran-backed militia’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began to allow aid into the country in May following a three-month prohibition, but international organizations say it is not enough.
The United Nations has accused Israel of creating a manmade famine in Gaza — accusations that Israel has rejected.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, as well as former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on allegations of using starvation as a method of warfare.
According to the Palestine Ministry of Health, 387 Palestinians, including 139 children, have died of starvation in Gaza.
At least 64,455 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s war against Hamas, the ministry said.