Gaza-Bound Flotilla Struck by Drone in Tunisia, Aid Group Says

The Global Sumud Flotilla planned to use the ship and others to bring humanitarian goods to Gaza.

An international group on a mission to deliver humanitarian aid by sea to Palestinians in Gaza said on Monday that one of its boats in a flotilla docked in Tunisia had been struck by what it believed was a drone that caused a fire.

The Tunisian National Guard said in a statement that there was no evidence that a ship had been attacked, dismissing social media reports to the contrary as “baseless.” Initial investigations indicated that the fire on the boat, which was docked in the port of Sidi Bou Said, appeared to have been caused by a cigarette butt or a lighter that ignited a life jacket, it added.

But in a video shared by the aid group, the Global Sumud Flotilla, apparently taken on a ship, a man on deck looks up toward the sky, reacts with shock and alarm and backs quickly away. There is a flash of light and the sound of an explosion, followed by cries for help, and smoke emerges from the direction of the ship’s bow.

Another video released later by the group appeared to offer an alternative angle captured from what the activists described as a nearby boat that was also part of the flotilla. The grainy footage shows a ball of light descending vertically onto the ship consistent with the location of the explosion seen in other visuals shared by the activists.

The New York Times could not independently corroborate the authenticity of the video footage, but it contained time stamps consistent with the known time of the episode.

No one on the vessel was injured, according to the group.

At a news conference in Tunis on Tuesday, Miguel Duarte, a flotilla member, said that he had emerged on deck to see a drone hovering three or four meters, or around 10 to 12 feet, above his head.

The drone then flew close to a pile of life jackets on the deck, he said, and dropped “a bomb” that caused an explosion and a fire. Mr. Duarte said that the crew members used fire extinguishers to put it out.

Flotilla organizers stopped short of assigning blame for the explosion, but denounced Israel’s attacks on Gaza and vowed to continue trying to break the Israeli military’s siege on the territory. They planned to set sail again soon.

“What happened in the night shows the world what we are dealing with,” Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian activist participating in the flotilla, said at the news conference as a crowd around him waved Palestinian flags. “We know it is a high-risk mission, but it does not compare to what the people of Gaza go through every day.”

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ship, which had set out from Barcelona, was sailing under the flag of Portugal and was one of the main boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s aid operation, the group said. Known as the Family Boat, it was slated to bring members of the group’s steering committee, including the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, to Gaza, it said.

Saif Abukeshek, a spokesman for the group, said by telephone on Monday evening that five people had been aboard the boat at the time, and that about 15 people had planned to go to Gaza on the vessel. Ms. Thunberg was not one of the people on board, he said.

Asked if the convoy in Tunisia would continue on to Gaza, Mr. Abukeshek said, “Yes, we will.”

Late on Tuesday, the flotilla group said in a statement that a second boat docked in Tunisia had been struck by a drone. It said that the boat had sustained fire damage, but no one had been hurt.

Attempts by aid groups to bring humanitarian goods to Gaza by sea have been repeatedly thwarted.

In May, a Gaza-bound ship called Conscience was hit by explosions and an ensuing fire, halting the mission off the coast of Malta. In June, Israel intercepted the Madleen, whose passengers included Ms. Thunberg, Mr. Ávila, and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament. In July, another vessel, called the Handala, was intercepted by Israel.

Those boats were operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, one of a number of groups that have since united to form the Global Sumud Flotilla.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, threatened this month to designate members of such aid flotillas as terrorists and to detain them.

Global monitors say that extreme hunger is widespread in Gaza and that parts of it are now experiencing famine. Conditions there have grown increasingly dire in nearly two years of war, set off by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Reporting was contributed by Toqa Ezzedin, Lara Jakes, Qasim Nauman, Jiawei Wang, Aritz Parra and Vivian Yee.

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