Egypt Daily News – The “Freedom Flotilla Coalition” announced that one of its ships, which was carrying activists and humanitarian aid to Gaza, was attacked by a drone while off the coast of Malta early Friday.
The organization released a video showing a fire on one of its vessels and accused Israel of being behind the attack. It remains unclear whether there were any injuries.
The coalition’s media coordinator, Yasmin Akkar, said that the attack caused a large hole in the ship, which is now sinking.
According to current information, the ship named Al-Amal (The Conscience) departed from Tunisia and was scheduled to dock in Malta to pick up a number of humanitarian activists, including environmental activist Greta Thunberg and retired U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright, according to CNN.
In its statement on Friday, the coalition said: “Volunteers from over 21 countries traveled to Malta to join the mission to Gaza, including prominent figures.” The coalition noted that it had intentionally avoided media attention during preparations to prevent sabotage attempts. It also called for Israeli ambassadors to be summoned and held accountable for violations of international law, including the ongoing blockade and the bombing of the ship in international waters.
The Mavi Marmara Incident
Since its founding and up to 2024, the Freedom Flotilla has managed to organize six convoys to Gaza. The first of these, on May 31, 2010, was attacked by Israel, resulting in the deaths of ten Turkish citizens.
According to the United Nations, on that date, Israeli forces boarded and took control of six ships belonging to the flotilla while they were 72 nautical miles from shore.
The 2010 convoy included a Turkish ship named Mavi Marmara—which means “Blue Marmara” in Turkish—and carried, along with the other ships, 750 activists from 36 Arab and foreign countries, as well as 6,000 tons of humanitarian aid. Israeli authorities had requested that the convoy change its course, citing a naval blockade on Gaza, but the ship did not comply.
Following the attack, the United Nations Human Rights Council launched an investigation into the incident, condemned the Israeli forces, and accused them of using excessive force—rejecting Israel’s claim that the activists had used weapons against the troops.
Both Turkey and Israel conducted their own investigations, which reached conflicting conclusions.
In 2014, the International Criminal Court announced that it would not pursue legal action against Israel over the attack on the Turkish ship, and it later rejected appeals submitted by various parties.
