At Risk of Sinking: Drone Attack on Ship Carrying Aid to Gaza

2nd May 2025

2 minutes read

At Risk of Sinking: Drone Attack on Ship Carrying Aid to Gaza

The international non-governmental organization Freedom Flotilla Coalition reported that a ship carrying humanitarian aid and activists en route to Gaza was struck by drones while sailing in international waters off the coast of Malta early Friday morning.

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The coalition released video footage showing a fire aboard one of its ships but did not identify who was responsible for the attack. No casualties have been reported so far.

In a post on social media, the NGO stated: “The drone attack appears to have specifically targeted the ship’s generator. The vessel is now at risk of sinking, with 30 international human rights activists on board.”

سفينة مساعدة في غزة على النار بعد الإبلاغ عن هجوم الطائرات بدون طيار | غزة

According to the organization, the ship sent out a distress call after being struck about 17 nautical miles east of Malta, to which Cyprus responded by dispatching a vessel.

The coalition has not blamed any party for the alleged drone strike.

In 2010, Israeli forces intercepted a ship from the same coalition on a similar mission to Gaza. Israeli soldiers boarded the vessel, resulting in the death of nine activists. Other ships from the coalition have since been intercepted without loss of life.

On March 18, a previously reached agreement collapsed when Israel resumed bombing Gaza and refused to enter the second phase of the ceasefire that was supposed to lead to an end to the war. Diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Israel, and the United States over the past two months have failed to resolve the crisis.

The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, following a surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel that killed 1,218 people—mostly civilians—according to official Israeli figures cited by AFP. During the attack, 251 people were taken hostage; 58 remain in Gaza, and Israel says 34 of them are confirmed dead or presumed killed.

أسطول الحرية لغزة: سفينة أطلقت نداء استغاثة بعد هجوم مزعوم بـ"درون" قبالة سواحل مالطا - CNN Arabic

Since the outbreak of the war, the death toll in Gaza has risen to at least 52,418, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated: “We want to bring back both the living and the dead. That’s a vital mission. But in war, the higher objective is defeating our enemies—and we will achieve that.”

A few days before resuming its military campaign, Israel shut all crossings into Gaza and blocked the entry of humanitarian aid and commercial goods.

On Tuesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on the international community to end the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, stressing that “any use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare constitutes a war crime, as do all forms of collective punishment.”