The Global Resilience Fleet said, "One of our boats was attacked by a suspected drone," adding, "All passengers and crew members are safe."
For its part, the Tunisian National Guard stated that "no drones were detected," shortly after the Global Resilience Flotilla announced that one of its boats had been attacked.
AFP quoted Tunisian National Guard spokesman Hossam Eddine Jebabli as saying, "According to initial investigations, a fire broke out in the life jackets of a ship anchored 50 miles from the port of Sidi Bou Said, coming from Spain." He added, "Investigations are ongoing, and no drones have been detected."
Earlier on Monday, health unions in the Gaza Strip called on the international community and medical and human rights organizations to ensure unhindered access for the Global Steadfastness Flotilla to the Strip.
"We salute the steadfastness fleet," union spokesman Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran said at a press conference at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza. He praised the "humanitarian convoy of 70 ships, loaded with essential medicines, medical supplies, and equipment, which is crossing the seas in defiance of the unjust blockade on Gaza."
For 18 years, Israel has been besieging Gaza, leaving approximately 1.5 million Palestinians out of a population of approximately 2.4 million in the Strip homeless after their homes were destroyed in the war of extermination.
Since March 2, Israel has closed all crossings into Gaza, preventing any humanitarian aid, including medicines and medical supplies, from entering the Strip. This has plunged the Strip into famine, despite the backlog of aid trucks at its borders.
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Global Steadfastness Flotilla: The Spanish ship incident is in the hands of the Tunisian authorities, and we will continue our journey to Gaza.
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The occupation army warns one million Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate immediately amid warnings of a humanitarian disaster.
Sometimes, Israel allows in very limited quantities of aid, which fall far short of meeting the minimum needs of the starving and medically deprived. However, most of the trucks are robbed by gangs that the Gaza government claims Israel protects.
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 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. These ships are expected to meet up with a third convoy, which 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 individual ships sailing toward Gaza, seizing them and deporting the activists on board. This is the first time this number of ships has sailed together toward the Gaza Strip.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
The genocide left 64,455 Palestinians dead, 162,776 wounded, most of them children and women, more than 9,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that claimed the lives of 393 Palestinians, including 140 children.
