Tunisia denied on Tuesday the accusations that a boat in a flotilla bound for Gaza was beaten by a drone in front of his coast, saying that the explosion came from inside the ship.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, an independent aid group, said on Monday that one of its main ships that were heading to Gaza’s strip had been beaten by a drone in the tunic waters.
The explosion caused fire damage to the main boat deck with Portuguese loaded and storage below the roof, but the six passengers and the crew are safe, GSF said in a statement.
“The acts of aggression destined to intimidate and derail our mission will not deter us,” said the group. “Our peaceful mission to break the siege in Gaza and stay in solidarity with its people continues with determination and resolution.”
An investigation is currently being carried out, according to GSF. With around 20 ships and participants from 44 countries, including activist Greta Thunberg, the group is the largest civil maritime attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory.
Tunisian officials rejected the accusation, saying that the explosion occurred inside the ship, Reuters reported. A national guard spokesman told local media to affirm a drone attack against the flotilla “are not based on the truth.”
Miguel Duarte, a crew member, said the alleged dron stopped near the flotilla, moved slowly to the front and then dropped “what was obviously a bomb” in the front of the roof.
“Let me be clear 100%. It was a drone that dropped a bomb on the front deck of our ship,” Duarte said when he was asked if the team was “absolutely sure that it was a drone attack,” a video he published in Instagram programs.
“I’m fine, but we could have been killed, right?” Duarte said, citing deaths during the War of Humanitarian and Doctors of Israel-Ahamas.
“We know the dangers we face,” he said.
After the explosion, the crew members repeatedly shouted for help and the fire alarm sounded, according to a CCTV video shared by Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza.
“If it is confirmed that this is a drone attack, it will be an assault and aggression against Tunisia and against Tunisian sovereignty,” Albanese said after the incident. “And again, we cannot continue tolerating this and normalizing the illegal.”
The protesters gathered in the port of Tunisia around 2 at the time of the local time (10 pm on Monday et), with some Palestinian and Turkish flags and singing “free Palestine”, according to a video replaced by GSF.
The starvation deaths in Gaza emerged after the blockade of Israel in March, and the aid resumed in May under a system backed by the United States and Israel. Since then, almost 1,400 people have died and 4,000 more have been injured while looking for food, with at least 859 killed near help sites, the United Nations say.
