The flotilla reports a second drone attack hours before resuming its journey to Gaza.

BarcelonaThe Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), which heads to Gaza to try to break the Israeli blockade humanitarian aid, reported last night a second drone attack, this time against one of the ships docked in the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said, in the northeast of the country. The impact of the projectile caused a fire on the deck of the vessel, baptized with the nameSoul and with the British flag. The fire was quickly extinguished and caused no injuries or structural damage to the ship.

The incident occurred hours before the flotilla is scheduled to depart Tunisia for Gaza in the coming hours, and after the organization had already denounced the incident on Tuesday. a fire caused by the impact of a drone on one of the main vessels of the Flotilla, the so-called Family Boat, carrying members of the mission's steering committee. "These repeated attacks come amid the escalating Israeli aggression against Palestinians in Gaza and constitute an orchestrated attempt to distract and derail our mission," the organization denounced in a statement.

Following Tuesday's allegation, the Tunisian National Guard denied that it was a drone attack and noted that the flames had originated "in one of the ship's life jackets, caused by a lighter or a cigarette butt." However, images of the incident show a device falling from the sky onto the ship before the fire, as evidenced by the video of Wednesday's attack. Members of the attacked crew also recovered a "charred electronic device" on the deck. The GSF has shared the photographs on social media.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Saif Abukeshek, a member of the flotilla's steering committee, framed the attacks as part of Israel's psychological warfare to "instill fear" and "stop solidarity" with the Palestinians, but made it clear that they will not back down and called for "all eyes to be on Gaza." "This [the attacks on the flotilla] is nothing compared to what they are doing to the Palestinians in Gaza every day," Thiago Ávila, also a member of the steering committee, added in a video message.

The two affected boats belong to the flotilla that departed from the port of Barcelona and are anchored in a port in Tunisia, awaiting the resumption of the voyage to Gaza this Wednesday with more Tunisian vessels. A total of some 300 volunteers from up to 44 countries will join the mission, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau.

"The Global Sumud Flotilla remains undaunted. Our peaceful journey to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza and to maintain solidarity with its people moves forward with determination and resolve," the organization stated, making it clear that only weather or technical problems could modify the departure plans to the Strip in the coming days.

All this, while Israel has ordered the evacuation of all of Gaza City, ahead of a new military offensive to take full control of the city and hours after killed five Hamas members in Qatar, where the Islamist group was negotiating a possible ceasefire. The attack has been seen as an attempt to sabotage the talks, and both the Qatari government and the international community have condemned the violation of the country's sovereignty and international law.