This came during a press conference held Tuesday in the capital, Tunis, after the fleet announced that an Israeli drone had targeted a Spanish ship in the port of Sidi Bou Said. The Tunisian Ministry of Interior denied this claim, noting that it had observed a limited fire in one of the life jackets, which was brought under control without causing any damage.
Al-Hanshiri confirmed that the authorities had completed all necessary procedures and technical investigations, and that a special team was conducting the investigation. He stated that the matter was classified and related to state security, and that no further details could be disclosed.
The spokesman stated that the primary goal is to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, adding that preparations for the flotilla are ongoing and have reached their final stages, with a strong will to achieve this goal.
He called on Tunisians to come out in the thousands to bid farewell to the flotilla on Wednesday as it headed to Gaza, adding, "We have one battle against the occupying entity (Israel) that is killing our people in Gaza."
On Sunday, approximately 20 ships from Spain as part of the "Global Resilience Flotilla" began arriving off the Tunisian coast, in preparation for heading to the Gaza Strip in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade and open a humanitarian corridor to deliver aid.
At the end of last August, approximately 20 ships in the fleet departed from the Spanish port of Barcelona, followed by another convoy at dawn on September 1 from the port of Genoa in northwestern Italy.
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These ships are expected to meet a third convoy that will depart from Tunisia on Wednesday.
The flotilla consists of the Freedom Flotilla Federation, the Global Gaza Movement, the Steadfastness Flotilla, and the Malaysian Sumud Nusantara organization, and includes hundreds of activists from more than 40 countries.
Israel has previously piracy against ships sailing alone towards Gaza, seizing them and deporting the activists on board.
This is the first time that this number of ships have sailed together towards the Gaza Strip.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving 64,605 Palestinians dead, 163,319 wounded, most of them children and women, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that has killed 399 Palestinians, including 140 children.
