Activists say Gaza support boat set to check Israel's blockade attacked by drone in Tunisia

[ad_1] The activist group sending a flotilla of aid boats to attempt to attain Gaza — World Sumud Flotilla — mentioned Tuesday that certainly one of its vessels was attacked by a drone in a single day whereas docked in Tunisia. The group mentioned all six passengers who had been touring on the boat have been protected. The Related Press reported the flotilla's most well-known members, together with local weather activist Greta Thunberg, had been touring on the boat, although it was unclear who was on board on the time of the alleged strike.

Thunberg was a part of a separate Gaza flotilla that was stopped by Israeli forces earlier this 12 months, too.

The World Sumud Flotilla shared what it mentioned was safety digital camera video of the assault, which seems to point out a ball of flames dropping from above and hitting the boat.

"Final evening, I used to be on the deck on the again a part of the ship and I heard a drone," Miguel Duarte, a Portuguese citizen, mentioned at a information convention hosted by the group on Tuesday. "I got here out of the quilt of the deck to see a drone hovering about three or 4 meters (yards) above my head, referred to as my fellow crew members, two of us stood there with the drone above our head, then we noticed the drone transfer to the ahead a part of the deck. It stood a number of seconds on high of a bunch of life jackets, after which dropped a bomb."

This display screen seize from a safety video shared by the World Sumud Flotilla on Sept. 9, 2025 seems to point out a ball of flames hitting one of many flotilla's vessels because it sits docked in Tunisia. World Sumud Flotilla

Duarte mentioned the "bomb exploded, there was a giant flame, a hearth on board instantly. We picked up hearth extinguishers, fought the hearth efficiently, and everybody was protected, thankfully."

Tunisia's Nationwide Guard initially denied {that a} drone strike had occurred, saying that, "in keeping with preliminary inspections, the hearth was attributable to flames breaking out in one of many life jackets aboard the ship, on account of a lighter or a cigarette butt. There isn't a proof of any hostile act or exterior concentrating on."

Tunisia's Inside Ministry additionally initially mentioned the "claims a few drone falling on one of many ships docked on the Port of Sidi Bou Mentioned are unfounded."

The ministry mentioned "specialised safety items inspected the traces of a fireplace that broke out on one of many life jackets, which was shortly introduced below management, inflicting no human or materials injury, aside from the burning of a variety of these life jackets."

Nevertheless, a spokesperson for the World Sumud Flotilla later advised CBS Information that the Tunisian authority's statements had been printed earlier than they noticed the group's video. The spokesperson mentioned that based mostly on that video, the Tunisian authorities had determined to create a particular committee to analyze the incident.

"We admire the trouble that they're making to analyze, and we're ready pending the ultimate end result," the flotilla spokesperson advised CBS Information.

Tunisia's Inside Ministry didn't instantly reply to CBS Information' request for touch upon an investigation.

Israel maintains a blockade of Gaza, together with its maritime border within the Mediterranean, so the flotilla wouldn't have permission to dock there.

Israeli forces have beforehand boarded and seized vessels collaborating in activist flotillas to forestall them from breaching its blockade, together with in a raid on a boat in 2010 that left at the least 9 activists useless.

Israel has dismissed the flotillas as publicity stunts, and says its maritime blockade is important to forestall weapons and different supplies being smuggled into the war-torn Palestinian territory, which has lengthy been dominated by the U.S.- and Israeli-designated terrorist group Hamas.

Israel's Ministry of Overseas Affairs didn't instantly reply to CBS Information' request for touch upon the incident in Tunisia.

The World Sumud Flotilla, which hopes to move humanitarian support supplies to Gaza and create publicity of the dire humanitarian state of affairs there, set off from Spain simply over per week in the past.