{"id":52742,"date":"2025-09-09T10:43:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T10:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/52742\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T10:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T10:43:09","slug":"gaza-aid-flotilla-says-boat-struck-by-drone-in-tunisian-port-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/52742\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza aid flotilla says boat struck by drone in Tunisian port \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) for Gaza<\/a> said on Tuesday that one of its main boats was struck by a drone at a port in Tunisia<\/a>, though all six passengers and crew were safe.<\/p>\n

Tunisia\u2019s interior ministry said that reports of a drone hitting a boat at its Sidi Bou Said port \u201chave no basis in truth\u201d, and that a fire broke out on the vessel itself.<\/p>\n

The Portuguese-flagged boat, carrying the flotilla\u2019s steering committee, sustained fire damage to its main deck and below-deck storage, said the GSF, an international group seeking to deliver humanitarian aid by sea to Palestinians. <\/p>\n

The flotilla is seeking to break Israel\u2019s naval blockade using civilian boats supported by delegations from 44 countries, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and Portuguese left-wing politician Mariana Mortagua.<\/p>\n

\"AA ship, known as the ‘Family’ and is part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, is anchored off the coast of the village of Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia on Tuesday. Photograph: Fethi Belaid\/AFP\/Getty <\/p>\n

A video posted by the GSF on X showed the moment \u201cthe Family Boat was struck from above\u201d, capturing a luminous flying object hitting the vessel with smoke rising soon after. <\/p>\n

After the strike, dozens of people gathered outside the Sidi Bou Said port, where the flotilla\u2019s boats were located at the time of the incident, waving Palestinian flags and chanting \u201cFree Palestine\u201d.<\/p>\n

Israel has imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, saying it aims to stop weapons from reaching the militant group. The blockade has remained in place through the current war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Israel sealed off Gaza by land in early March, letting in no supplies for three months and sparking the widespread shortage of food. It has said Hamas was diverting the aid.<\/p>\n

In June, Israeli naval forces boarded and seized a British-flagged yacht carrying Thunberg, among others. Israel dismissed the aid ship as a propaganda stunt in support of Hamas.<\/p>\n

\"Pro-PalestinianPro-Palestinian supporters light up flares as they protest an apparent attack on a humanitarian ship at the port of Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia. Photograph: EPA <\/p>\n

The GSF also said an investigation into the drone attack was under way and its results would be released once available.<\/p>\n

\u201cActs of aggression aimed at intimidating and derailing our mission will not deter us. Our peaceful mission to break the siege on Gaza and stand in solidarity with its people continues with determination and resolve,\u201d the GSF said.<\/p>\n

The United Nations\u2019 Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, who was at the port, told Reuters: \u201cWe do not know who carried out the attack, but we would not be surprised if it was Israel. If confirmed, it is an attack against Tunisian sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli side. <\/p>\n

The current Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, Israeli tallies showed. <\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s subsequent military assault against Hamas has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, Gaza\u2019s Hamas-controlled health ministry said, while a global hunger monitor said part of the enclave is suffering from famine. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) for Gaza said on Tuesday that one of its main boats was struck…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,3761,6,71,3857,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,38533,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-52742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-gaza-strip","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-main-news","19":"tag-mainnews","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories","23":"tag-tunisia","24":"tag-world","25":"tag-world-news","26":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}