Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Wednesday that Spain will join Italy in sending a military warship to help the Global Sumud Flotilla, which is attempting to deliver aid to starving Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip and came under drone attack following threats from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
“Last night, multiple civilian boats were targeted by unmanned drones,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said on Wednesday. “The attacks included the deployment of explosive and incendiary devices, deliberate dispersal of chemical substances onto civilian vessels, disabling of emergency communication devices, and calculated physical damage designed to render the ships unseaworthy and endanger volunteers aboard.”
The group added that all of its crew remain safe. According to a flotilla tracker, the flotilla consists of 52 boats, and the majority of them are currently right off the coast of Crete. Two boats previously came under drone attack when they were in Tunisia.
Italy was the first country to announce it was deploying a warship to aid the flotilla, citing the presence of Italian citizens on the boats. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said that to “ensure assistance to the Italian citizens on the flotilla,” he had “authorized the immediate intervention of the Italian Navy’s multi-purpose frigate Fasan.”
Sanchez announced his plans to deploy a warship while attending the UN General Assembly in New York. “The government of Spain insists that international law be respected and that the right of our citizens should be respected to sail through the Mediterranean in safe conditions,” he said.
“Tomorrow we will dispatch a naval vessel from Cartagena with all necessary resources in case it was necessary to assist the flotilla and carry out a rescue operation,” Sanchez added.
According to Ann Wright, a retired US Army colonel and peace activist, at least 22 American citizens, including six veterans, are among the more than 500 unarmed crew members on boats in the flotilla. The US government has stayed quiet about the Israeli attacks on the flotilla boats despite the presence of US citizens.
The Sumud Flotilla marks the fourth attempt to break Israel’s starvation blockade on Gaza this year, but the first time that multiple vessels are involved. The first boat to try to break the blockade this year, the Conscience, came under Israeli drone attack off the coast of Malta in May, halting its journey.
In June, another boat, the Madleen, made it close to Gaza’s coast before being boarded and seized by Israeli forces and taken into an Israeli port. The third boat, the Hamdala, was also captured by Israeli forces, and the humanitarian aid it was carrying was seized when it attempted to break the blockade in late July.
Back in 2010, Israeli forces raided six boats attempting to break the blockade on Gaza, and nine Turkish activists were killed on one of the vessels.
