Netanyahu directly ordered recent drone strikes on Gaza-bound Sumud Flotilla: Report

A recent report has revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly approved drone strikes on two vessels that were part of a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists last month off the coast of Tunisia.

On Friday, CBS News, quoting two unnamed American intelligence officials, reported that following Netanyahu’s orders, Israeli forces on September 8 and 9 launched drones from a submarine and dropped incendiary devices onto the boats that were moored outside the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said, causing a fire.

Under international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict, the use of incendiary weapons against civilians or civilian objects is strictly prohibited in all circumstances.

The Global Sumud Flotilla organized the international maritime mission to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and deliver aid to the war-torn territory, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are suffering a fatal Israeli-imposed famine.

On September 8, an incendiary device struck the Family, a Portuguese-flagged vessel, one night after Portuguese lawmaker Mariana Mortágua had been on board.

Activists believe the attackers deliberately waited until “elected officials or high-profile figures were absent.”

The next day, the Alma, a British-flagged vessel, was attacked in the same way. Both boats sustained fire damage, but the crews managed to extinguish the flames quickly. No casualties were reported.

“Confirmation of Israeli involvement would not surprise us; it would simply lay bare a pattern of arrogance and impunity so grotesque that it cannot escape eventual reckoning,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement on Friday.

“Whether the purpose of these attacks was to kill us, scare us away, or disable our boats, they recklessly endangered civilians and humanitarian volunteers,” the statement added.

“The world must take note; attempts to silence, intimidate, or obstruct our commitment to the Palestinian cause and people will not succeed. We call for urgent, independent investigations into these attacks and full accountability for those responsible,” the statement continued.

Global Sumud Flotilla detainees go on hunger strike after Israeli attack

Activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla have gone on hunger strike since they were abducted by Israeli forces in international waters while they were trying to take humanitarian aid to Gaza and break Israel’s blockade of the strip.

In separate incidents in late September, the group said it was attacked by 15 low-altitude drones while sailing south of Greece.

At least 13 explosions were heard on and around the flotilla, and objects were dropped on at least 10 vessels, causing damage. Although no casualties occurred, the flotilla said its communications systems were disrupted.

Last week, in a move that drew swift international condemnation, Israeli naval forces intercepted all Gaza-bound vessels and abducted activists, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and several European lawmakers.

Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, it has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and wounded over 168,000 others, most of them women and children.

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