Spain And Italy Are Sending Warships To Protect The Global Sumud Flotilla After It Was Attacked Again
Pedro Sánchez stressed the flotilla is a peaceful mission with citizens from 45 countries bringing food to Gaza, and pledged to send a ship if rescue is needed.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez has announced that his government is sending a naval vessel to protect the Global Sumud Flotilla a day after multiple boats on the fleet were attacked in international waters.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sept. 24, in New York, where he was attending the UN General Assembly, Sánchez said that its citizens had a right to navigate the Mediterranean Sea in safe conditions and that countries must abide by international law.
He stressed that the flotilla was a peace mission with citizens from 45 countries who wanted to express their solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza and deliver food and said that his government will dispatch the ship in case it is necessary to assist the flotilla and carry out a rescue.
Multiple ships on the humanitarian fleet were attacked on Tuesday, Sept. 23, with targeted explosions and unidentified objects being dropped on or near the boats.
Flotilla participants also reported objects being dropped on at least 10 boats from drones or aircraft, causing damage on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Italy’s defense minister condemned the attacks, and the country’s navy also dispatched a warship to escort the flotilla.
Two boats, including the flotilla’s main Family boat, had already been bombed in Tunisian waters by drones earlier in September.
The Global Sumud Flotilla has blamed Israel — which has called the humanitarian mission the "Hamas flotilla" — for the attacks, saying they are an orchestrated attempt to distract and derail its mission but it remained undeterred.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, the largest civilian fleet of mostly small boats, had sailed from Barcelona, Spain, on Aug. 31, carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg and Nelson Mandela's grandson, Mandla Mandela, to break Israel’s siege on Gaza.
It had reached Tunis in Tunisia, on Sept. 7, to meet with other groups of activists to sail together to Gaza.
Israel has repeatedly sabotaged all previous attempts to break its siege on Gaza since 2010.
Kassy Cho
Flavie Chen
Kassy Cho
