Tunisia denied accusations on Tuesday that a boat in a flotilla bounded by Gaza had been hit by a drone off its coast, saying that the explosion came from the interior of the ship.
Global Sumud Flatilla, an independent aid group, said on Monday that one of its main boats heading for the Gaza Strip had been struck by a drone in Tunisian waters.
The explosion caused damage to the fire at the main bridge of the punished boat and storage under the bridge, but the six passengers and the crew are safe, GSF said in a statement.
“Acts of aggression aimed at intimidating and derailing our mission will not dissuade us,” said the group. “Our peaceful mission of breaking the seat on Gaza and joining forces with its people continues with determination and resolution.”
An investigation is currently underway, according to GSF. With around 20 boats and participants from 44 countries, including activist Greta Thunberg, the group is the largest civil maritime attempt to break the Israeli blockade in the Palestinian territory.
Tunisian officials rejected allegation, saying that the explosion occurred inside the ship, Reuters reported. A spokesman for the National Guard told local media that the demands of a drone attack on the flotilla “had no basis in truth”.
Miguel Duarte, a crew member, said that the suspected drone stopped near the flotilla, slowly moved forward, then dropped “which was obviously a bomb” on the front of the bridge.
“Let me be 100%clear. It was a drone dropping a bomb on the front deck of our ship,” said Duarte when asked if the team was “absolutely certain that it was a drone attack”, a video he published in Instagram shows.
“I’m fine, but we could have been killed, right?” Duarte said, citing deaths during the War of Israel-Hamas of humanitarian and medical workers.
“We know the dangers we face,” he said.
After the explosion, the crew members have repeatedly shouted for help and sounded the fire alarm, according to video surveillance shared by Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for West Bank and Gaza.
“If it is confirmed that this is a drone attack, it will be an assault and an assault against Tunisia and against Tunisian sovereignty,” said Albanese after the incident. “And again, we cannot continue to tolerate this and normalize illegal.”
The demonstrators gathered at the port of Tunis around 2 a.m. local time (10 p.m. Monday HE), with Palestinian and Turkish flags who agitate the “free Palestine”, according to a video republished by GSF.
The deaths of famine in Gaza increased after the blockade of Israel in March, and the aid resumed in May under a system supported by the United States and Israel. Since then, nearly 1,400 people have died and 4,000 others have been injured when looking for food, with at least 859 killed near the help sites, the United Nations said.
