A Catalan activist on the Gaza flotilla: "Attacking a civilian ship carrying humanitarian aid is a war crime."

BarcelonaA ship from the so-called Freedom Flotilla, the coalition of NGOs in solidarity with Gaza, was attacked with drones early this morning in international waters, as it was preparing to sail towards the Strip to try to break the Two months of total blockade of humanitarian aid by IsraelTwo drone-guided missiles attacked the bow of the vessel at 0:23 a.m. as it was anchored near Malta, where it was waiting for all the volunteers to arrive so they could board the ship and set sail. Sources from the organization informed ARA, specifying that there were 12 crew members and six activists on board at the time. It has been confirmed that an Israeli military aircraft, a C-130 Hercules, entered its flight information zone on Thursday night from the east. The aircraft spent three and a half hours in this area before returning to Israel. Haaretz reports that the army has declined to comment on the incident.

"Attacking a boat of unarmed civilians that was supposed to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza is a war crime. We can't prove it was Israel, but who else? They're the only ones who have sabotaged and killed activists on flotillas in Gaza," Edu Lucas explains to ARA, in the port of Valletta, Malta, as he boarded the boat this morning, like most activists. In 2010, nine Turkish activists died during the Israeli armed forces' assault on the Freedom Flotilla, which was denouncing the blockade of Gaza.

In this case, the ship Conscience It had set sail from the port of Tunisia and was anchored in international waters waiting for the arrival of the majority of activists, who had completed all the official procedures in Malta, when it was attacked. In this way, the organization hoped to avoid being blocked in a Mediterranean port due to bureaucratic obstacles. "It was cut off from communication for a long time, and we weren't able to speak to the captain until midday, who told us they had managed to control the rift," explains Lucas. Towards the afternoon, the organization reported that the vessel had been blocked by a Maltese coastguard military vessel while trying to enter the island seeking port security. Masmi, from the Ítaca collective. Last year, both were part of the flotilla that couldn't set sail from Turkey, which also included former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau and MEP Jaume Asens, due to bureaucratic obstacles. Later that afternoon, he approached in a small boat to see the attacked vessel.

Thirty activists and humanitarian aid

In addition to around 30 activists, the boat was carrying medicine, water, and food to Gaza. "We are outraged by the international community's complicity in the genocide in Gaza: they constantly hinder us from leaving the ports, when we are only carrying the humanitarian aid that governments should be delivering," Lucas added. The organization is assessing whether there is any possibility of moving forward with the solidarity initiative. For its part, Hamas considered the attack a "flagrant act of piracy and organized state terrorism."

According to the organization, after suffering the attack, which affected the ship's generator, they launched an SOS signal to which Cyprus responded by sending a rescue vessel. Libertad calls on Malta to act to guarantee the safety of the ship and reminds it that it is obliged to do so by maritime law and international conventions. the NGO.

The International Committee of the Red Cross warned this Friday that the humanitarian response to Gaza is "one step away from completely collapsing" due to the fighting and the two-month total blockade of humanitarian aid due to the destruction of the area due to a lack of water and products, while hospitals struggle to continue operating without medicine and food.