Gaza aid flotilla says boat struck with ‘drone,’ Tunisian authorities deny
Tunisia denied early Tuesday morning a claim by an aid flotilla heading from Spain to Gaza that one of its boats had been “hit by a drone” while anchored near the capital, Tunis, adding that “there was no hostile action or external targeting.”
The Tunisian National Guard said in a statement, “Contrary to what is being circulated on some social media pages regarding the presence of a ‘drone’ that targeted this ship, this news is completely baseless.”
“According to initial investigations, the cause of the fire was a fire that broke out in one of the life jackets on board the [vessel], as a result of a lighter or cigarette butt igniting,” it added.
The denial came after the Global Sumud Flotilla, which is heading to Gaza carrying aid and activists, announced that one of its boats was hit by a “drone strike” on Monday night, causing a fire on board.
Fire onboard
The aid flotilla, which aims to break the siege on Gaza, announced that a drone targeted a Spanish ship belonging to it, which was anchored off the port of Sidi Bou Said in Tunisia.
According to circulating images and videos, the bombing of the ship, which had arrived at Sidi Bou Said port on Sunday, resulted in a portion of the vessel being partially burned.
There have been no reports of any material or human losses among the crew on the vessel.
The largest ship
The ship, the largest, had set sail a few days earlier from Barcelona, Spain, heading to the Gaza Strip with the aim of breaking the blockade. It stopped in Tunisia to join the aid ships heading to Gaza. Some prominent names onboard the vessel are Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, German activist Yasmin Agar, and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila.
The flotilla is expected to set sail for Gaza on Wednesday, arriving in mid-September.
Two other attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza, in June and July, were blocked by Israel. Troops boarded their vessels and detained the activists before expelling them.
