A ship belonging to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, was attacked by an Israeli UAV off the coast of Malta.<\/p>\n
According to CNN<\/em>, a ship belonging to the Freedom Flotilla, which set sail to break the Gaza blockade, was attacked twice by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at night in international waters off the coast of Malta. An SOS call was sent immediately from the ship after a fire broke out.<\/p>\n The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which operates to lift the Gaza blockade, announced that there were 30 international human rights activists on board and that the ship was carrying humanitarian aid. The attack reportedly occurred just after midnight on Friday (approximately 01:00 TSI).<\/p>\n The coalition’s spokesperson, Yasemin Acar, told CNN<\/em>, “There is currently a hole in the ship, and it is about to sink.” She stated that the ship sent an SOS call to surrounding countries, including Malta, and that a rescue boat had set off from Southern Cyprus. It was also reported that contact was established with the crew for a while.<\/p>\n Videos published on the coalition’s X<\/em> (formerly Twitter) account show the fire and rising smoke on the ship.<\/p>\n Acar stated the location where the ship was attacked as “17 kilometers off the coast of Malta, international waters.” She said the target was the generators in the front part of the ship. Due to the generators not working, electricity cannot be supplied to the ship, and contact cannot be re-established with the burning ship.<\/p>\n In its initial statements, the coalition did not make a direct accusation regarding responsibility for the attack. However, Israel is known to have intervened against similar flotillas in the past. The “Mavi Marmara<\/em>” incident in 2010, in particular, is remembered as an example of Israel’s harsh intervention against aid ships in international waters. The Tel Aviv administration had repeatedly stated that it would respond militarily to all attempts to break the Gaza blockade.<\/p>\n It was noted in maritime traffic data that the ship named Conscience<\/em> departed from Tunisia on Tuesday night and reached the waters off Malta approximately 12 hours before the attack. The ship was reported to be flying the Palau flag.<\/p>\n Thiago Avila, one of the FFC organizers, stated that the ship had planned to dock in Malta on Thursday to pick up new passengers but was attacked before this could happen. He stated that they are currently trying to reach the crew with a rescue boat, that the ship is heavily damaged, but it is not yet clear if there are any injuries.<\/p>\n The Maltese government, making a statement in the morning, announced that everyone on the attacked aid flotilla was “safe.” The statement said, “There were 12 crew members and 4 civilian passengers on the ship; no casualties occurred.” It was also stated that a nearby tugboat was directed to assist the ship: “The tugboat reached the scene and began firefighting operations. As of 01:28 (03:28 TSI), the fire was brought under control. A patrol vessel belonging to the Maltese Armed Forces was also sent to provide support.”<\/p>\n The Freedom Flotilla Coalition later issued a statement holding Israel responsible for the attack. The statement said, “Israeli ambassadors should be immediately summoned and held accountable for violations of international law, the blockade, and the bombing of our civilian ship in international waters.”<\/p>\n The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which includes groups from Canada, Spain, Norway, South Africa, and Australia, was established to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza. The coalition, based on non-violent resistance, aims to deliver aid to the people of Gaza and raise global awareness against the blockade.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A ship belonging to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, was attacked by an Israeli UAV off the coast of Malta. According to CNN, a ship belonging to the Freedom Flotilla, which set sail to break the Gaza blockade, was attacked twice by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at night in international […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9620,9616,9622,9617,9623,1098,6415,9618,9619,9621,5288],"class_list":["post-9302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middleeast","tag-conscience-ship","tag-freedom-flotilla","tag-freedom-flotilla-coalition","tag-gaza-blockade","tag-human-rights-activists","tag-humanitarian-aid","tag-international-waters","tag-israel-attack","tag-malta","tag-mavi-marmara","tag-uav-attack"],"yoast_head":"\n