Tunisian authorities denied early Tuesday the claims made by a Spanish aid fleet headed to Gaza regarding a fire breaking out on one of its boats due to a “strike from a drone” while docked near the capital. Tunisia confirmed there was no hostile act or external targeting.
The Tunisian National Guard’s General Administration stated in a release, reported by Agence France-Presse, that the news circulating on social media about the boat being targeted by a drone “has no basis in fact.”
Preliminary investigations revealed that the fire was ignited by a life vest on the boat due to a lighter or a cigarette butt, without any external interference.
The Global Solidarity Fleet, which set out from Barcelona, Spain, in an effort to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, previously announced that one of its boats was struck by a drone near the Sidi Bou Said port, resulting in the fire. The fleet noted that six people were onboard the boat, all of whom were unharmed and in good health, although there was noted material damage to the vessel.
In a subsequent statement, the fleet condemned what it termed “aggressive acts aimed at obstructing its humanitarian mission,” reaffirming that its primary goal is to establish a humanitarian corridor and end the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
