Israel used drones to attack a humanitarian aid ship en route to Gaza in the early hours of Friday, while it was in international waters just off the coast of the Mediterranean island Malta.
Amid a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, in which virtually all aid has run dry, the ship, Conscience, was organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), an international NGO. It set sail from the Tunisian port of Bizerte on Tuesday and was more than 1,600 nautical miles from Gaza when it was hit by drone fire.
The attack began just after midnight Thursday, at 00:23 local time. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said in a statement: “Armed drones attacked the front of an unarmed civilian vessel twice, causing a fire and a substantial breach in the hull.
That there were no deaths or injuries was only down to chance. The FFC said that 30 people representing 21 nationalities were onboard the ship. The Turkish foreign ministry confirmed that Turkish nationals were among them.
Speaking to CNN by phone from Malta, Yasemin Acar, the FCC’s press officer, said, “There is a hole in the vessel right now and the ship is sinking.” This was confirmed by photographic evidence. He added, “Attacking international human rights activists in international waters is a war crime.”
CNN reported, “Footage shared on social media and verified by FCC activists shows passengers on the boat walking through smoke that appeared to have filled the inside of the vessel. Photos onboard the ship also show large holes in the structure, much of which is charred and covered in soot.
“Trevor Ball, a former US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member, told CNN that the photos are consistent with two smaller blast munitions being used.”
The FFC said the drones appeared to have targeted the generator, leaving the ship without power.
Conscience put out an SOS signal, answered by a ship from Cyprus which the humanitarian crew explained was unable to “provide the critical electrical support needed”. The fire was only brought under control by a Maltese tugboat more than an hour after the ship was first fired upon.
Forty people were waiting in Malta to be picked up by Conscience on Friday for the onward journey to Gaza. Among them were climate change and human rights activist Greta Thunberg and retired US Army Colonel Mary Ann Wright.
Speaking to Reuters Friday, Thunberg said, “I was part of the group who was supposed to board that boat today to continue the voyage towards Gaza, which is one of many attempts to open up a humanitarian corridor and to do our part to keep trying to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza” She denounced the “systematic starvation of two million people.”
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack. Speaking to the AFP news agency the FFC said they “suspect” Israel was behind the attack, but “cannot confirm” it as fact. However, the FFC’s official statement was unequivocal, demanding, “Israeli ambassadors must be summoned and answer to violations of international law, including the ongoing blockade and the bombing of our civilian vessel in international waters.”
There is little doubt that the attack was authorised by the war criminals in Tel Aviv, who are in the process of starving the roughly 2 million Palestinians who have survived the 15-month genocide.
Evidence emerged over the weekend suggesting a highly planned operation of the type which is standard fare for the Israel Defense Forces. Numerous media outlets, including in Israel, repeated a CNN report noting flight-tracking data showing an Israeli Air Force C-139 Hercules leaving Israel early Thursday afternoon and travelling to Malta.
CNN explained, “The Hercules did not land at Malta’s international airport, the data shows, but the cargo aircraft did fly at a relatively low altitude—below 5,000 feet—over eastern Malta for an extended period of time. The Hercules flew over several hours before the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said their vessel came under attack. The plane returned to Israel about seven hours later, flight-tracking data shows.”
The facts were verified by the Times of Malta and MaltaToday. The Times of Malta cited a “military source” speaking on condition of anonymity who said, “What happened is very serious. Israel appears to have flown an unauthorised military aircraft over Malta, an EU state and in breach of our neutrality.”
The Israeli online daily Ynet pointed out, “To strike a specific location on a ship from over 2,000 kilometers away requires the capabilities of a regional power,” and that using a drone provided the attacker with “plausible deniability… small drones are hard to detect using the conventional radar systems employed by civilian and national aviation authorities in Europe.”
This points to Israel as the author of yet another crime, adding to its heinous years-long record of preventing aid ships and convoys for reaching Gaza and the West Bank—including those operated by the FCC.
In May 2010, Israel attacked six civilian ships of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. This operation involved naval commandos from the IDF’s Shayetet 13 unit boarding the Turkish humanitarian ship Mavi Marmara, killing 10 aboard and wounding 30 others.
Despite the flight-tracking data evidence of a major breach of international law, the Maltese authorities sought to play down the incident, claiming in a Friday statement that no “aircraft or vessel, currently mentioned in local and foreign media in relation to the case of the vessel Conscience, entered Maltese Sovereign Airspace or the territorial sea… the territorial integrity of Malta was never compromised at any stage.”
Conscience remains in grave danger, given that Malta is keeping the vessel in international waters and refusing to take it ashore to the port at the capital Valletta for critical repairs. The refusal is in breach of the right of passage for humanitarian assistance as guaranteed by the Geneva Conventions. Malta’s navy is also refusing to allow Conscience’s support team to reach it.
On Saturday, one of the members of the Freedom Flotilla steering committee made a speech outside the Maltese Parliament calling for protests on the island and at embassies in Europe. The representative, Yazan, demanded “safe passage, protection and immediate humanitarian relief for those on board.” The Maltese Times reported of the speech: “He said that earlier that day, members of the Freedom Flotilla took boats from Malta and tried to reach the Conscience with aid. ‘But they were intercepted by the Armed Forces of Malta and forced to turn back under threat of arrest.’”
The newspaper reported the government’s excuse that it is barring the stricken vessel entry to port based on the allegation that the Conscience is carrying no flag and has no insurance. According to the Times of Israel, “Tighe Barry, an activist with anti-war group Codepink, told the Associated Press that the Pacific island nation of Palau, which has warm ties with Israel, revoked its flag from the Conscience prior to the alleged attack.”