‘What happened showed the world what we’re dealing with:’ Global Sumud Flotilla will still sail to Gaza after drone strikes activist vessel

The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) said on Tuesday that one of its main boats was struck by a drone overnight while in Tunisian waters, but that it remains resolved to continue its mission.

“We continue our mission, though we know it’s a risky mission,” said Thiago Ávila, one of the flotilla’s spokespeople, at a press conference this afternoon. “We must continue when people are starved and besieged,” Avila added.

The flotilla coalition issued a statement on Tuesday morning saying that a Portuguese-flagged boat carrying its steering committee members had sustained fire damage after being struck at the Sidi Bou Said port in Tunisia in the early hours of Tuesday.

Footage of the incident shared online showed a blazing object flying through the air and striking the deck, which immediately caught on fire. The GSF said the fire damaged the main deck and below deck storage of the vessel, the Family Boat, but all six passengers and crew were safe.

Footage taken from another boat shows the moment the Family Boat was struck from above in the early hours of Tuesday. Courtesy of the Global Sumud Flotilla on Instagram.

“Acts of aggression aimed at intimidating and derailing our mission will not deter us,” the GSF said in its statement, vowing to continue its peaceful mission.

Miguel Duarte, a Portuguese activist who was aboard the ship during the attack, said at the Tuesday presser at Sidi Bou Said that he had seen a drone before the incident took place. He said he came out from under the deck cover to see the drone hovering around three or four meters above his head, before it moved toward the front of the deck and dropped a missile that caused a fire on board.

Those on the boat were able to extinguish the fire quickly, Duarte continued.

The Tunisian Interior Ministry said that reports of a drone hitting a boat at Sidi Bou Said “have no basis in truth,” claiming that the fire broke out on the boat itself.

The flotilla coalition submitted all testimonies, footage and evidence they have to the Tunisian authorities, another flotilla spokesperson, Wael Nawar, said at the Tuesday presser. The authorities have formed a judicial-security team to investigate the incident.

The GSF will respect the secrecy of the investigation and will not comment on it, Nawar added, as the incident concerns Tunisia’s sovereignty and national security.

The fleet of boats brings together multiple activist groups from different countries planning to sail together in the largest attempt yet to break the siege on Gaza. The groups had begun to arrive with their boats at Sidi Bou Said over the past days to join the Tunisian GSF delegation and prepare for sailing to Gaza.

Dozens of flotilla participants and supporters were present at the Tunisian port for Tuesday’s press conference, with many chanting “free, free Palestine” and “Zionism out.”

Ávila, whose background is in climate and humanitarian activism in Brazil, offered thanks to Tunisian authorities and the country’s public for hosting the mission’s departure, expressing the flotilla coalition’s resolve to continue its mission regardless of the suspected attack.

“We are not the story, but the people of Gaza who suffer genocide,” Ávila stated. “What happened showed the world what we are dealing with, who benefits from stopping aid reaching starving people, who assassinates health workers, aid workers, and journalists.”

“Thousands more are volunteering after the attack,” he continued. “No one is leaving after the attack because this is our last stand.”

Portuguese MP Mariana Mortagua, another of the flotilla organizers, indicated that the GSF mission is only at risk because Israel repeatedly violates international law, as it does in its treatment of people in Gaza.

She called on Portuguese and other EU governments, as well as European and international institutions, to take a stand against Israel and defend both the mission and the people of Gaza.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir threatened earlier this month to designate members of the flotilla as terrorists and detain them, presenting a plan to the Cabinet to do so.