Israel has used drones to attack a Gaza humanitarian aid flotilla in International waters off the coast of Malta.
UPDATE from Thiago Ávila, coordinator of the Freedom Flotilla still in Malta:
We had another mission 15 years ago that was attacked, and 10 of our participants were killed in this mission of the Mavi Marmara. And right now we just suffered another attack, where two drones attacked our boat and put our boat on fire and created a big hole on our boat. There was a distress signal that was sent to all neighboring countries, to all the vessels nearby.
And until very early in the morning, no one had responded to this. This happened now six hours ago. And now that we finally — the fire was put down, and finally, the drones that attacked the boat are out of the region.
But we are very concerned for our participants. This is part of a humanitarian mission that was carrying food and medical aid to Gaza, because Gaza has now been for 58 days under total blockade — that not a single bag of flour, not a single bottle of water has entered Gaza for 58 days under a state of famine in the Gaza Strip.
So we were trying to break the siege and create a people's humanitarian corridor, with people from over 20 different countries and carrying all the aid we could carry. We had members of parliament, we had actors, we had doctors, we had news outlets, we had influencers, we had grassroots solidarity movement activists as well for Palestine.
And we were doing our best. This was a confidential mission. Because they've been attempting bureaucratic warfare on us, we were not disclosing the information until then that we were going, because they've been trying to hinder us. We were supposed to be on the boat three days ago now, and we've been hindered. And now, a few hours before we depart, we were attacked.
And so we are due to share this information, to contact local politicians, to contact everyone you can, so that the Maltese government organize a proper rescue operation, which is not ongoing until now, and it's been many, many hours. We don't want to antagonize this government.
We actually think this government needs to be an ally on a rescue mission, but we really need to denounce the war crime that happened because the boat was 13 nautical miles from Maltese territory, so it's in international waters, but it's nearby Malta, and we need people to denounce this attack, this war crime that just happened against a peaceful humanitarian mission to Gaza. And we need people to put the spotlight as well on the total blockade that Gaza has been suffering for 58 days.
We only went to the boat because we knew there was no other choice to open a humanitarian corridor, so the people of the world were willing to open it.
And we were attacked. So we were urged for your help, and Nicole here is part of our delegation, has been doing an amazing, amazing job, and we count on you to follow up with her, because we really need you right now, and especially the people, the Palestinian people in Gaza need you more than ever.
From elsewhere on Twitter:
We spoke with Jasmine, one of the organizers of the Freedom Flotilla.
She reports that the 30 people aboard the ship are afraid to board lifeboats—fearing Israel will strike them again once exposed. As of now, there are no confirmed injuries, but communication with the ship has been lost.
Jasmine is currently organizing an independent operation with others to reach the Freedom Flotilla after 7 hours without any response to the ship’s SOS. Authorities, embassies, and officials have remained silent.
The ship is sinking in international waters.
Despite multiple calls to embassies, media, and an SOS call and beacon no countries responded for over 6 hours until a Cypriot vessel picked up the SOS call and sent help.
I don't have the national makeup of activists on board for obvious reasons, but if any of them were British then it's highly likely that the British government has actively assisted in the illegal drone striking of one of its own citizens since they provide radio surveillance of that area, as well as surveillance flights and targeting for Israeli drones from RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus.
History is repeating itself again, as a reminder; in 2010 Israeli military boarded and stormed a previous Gaza humanitarian flotilla and executed at least 10 activists, all unarmed, some at point blank range, including UK and US citizens.
This ordinary guy basically had the entire national press roll up on his doorstep, in the middle of his ordinary life, just after discovering that his young neighbor who he didn't know that well had shot two people in DC and made international news as well as setting off a global Israeli-pushed political firestorm. And his message is one of empathy, it clearly places the genocide on Israel's shoulders, highlights his country's complicity, and keeps message discipline without getting drawn into media spin or distraction.
It really demonstrates how all these lib and 'left' politicians and pundits really aren't worth a damn that they can't manage this shit.