News - Middle East: Tunisia has confirmed that the second attack on the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) was a “pre-planned assault”, pledging to expose perpetrators, as the flotilla has vowed to keep sailing toward the besieged Palestinian territory, despite successive Israeli attacks.

The GSF on Wednesday reported that the British-flagged Alma, a boat in its fleet, had been attacked by a drone as it was docked in Tunisian waters a day earlier, noting that the vessel sustained fire damage on its top deck, but added that the fire had since been extinguished, and all passengers and crew were safe.

This attack came just hours after the flotilla’s main vessel - the Portuguese-flagged ship Family - was struck by a drone near Tunisian waters early Tuesday, while Tunisian authorities deny any such attack took place.

On Wednesday, however, Tunisia’s interior ministry confirmed that the second attack on the GSF was not an accident but a “pre-planned assault,” vowing to reveal the perpetrators who orchestrated the strike, although it is widely suspected that the Tel Aviv regime is behind both attacks.

“The Ministry of the Interior confirms that the attack which took place yesterday against one of the ships docked at Sidi Bou Said port was a pre-planned assault. The Ministry’s departments are carrying out all investigations and inquiries to uncover the full facts, so that public opinion – not only in Tunisia but worldwide – will know who planned this attack, who colluded, and who carried out its execution,” the ministry stressed in a statement.

It marks a sharp break from Tunisian officials’ earlier dismissal of suspicions following the first attack on the flotilla ship Family. At the time, authorities rejected reports of a drone strike as “having no basis in truth”, attributing the fire to “internal causes” such as a cigarette or a life jacket catching fire.

However, after Tuesday’s attack on the flotilla vessel Alma, docked at Sidi Bou Said port, Tunisian authorities admitted that the incident bore the clear hallmark of a coordinated act of sabotage.

Observers and activists say all evidence points to Israel, which has a long history of intercepting and attacking humanitarian flotillas bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip, arguing that the attacks are part of Tel Aviv’s desperate attempts to intimidate international solidarity missions and to choke off any initiative that exposes the occupying entity’s crimes against the Palestinian people.

Human rights groups stress that the repeated targeting of flotilla vessels demonstrates Israel’s fear of international scrutiny and its determination to isolate Gaza at any cost.

The GSF comprises more than 50 boats, which embarked from Barcelona late last month on a mission to break what has been denounced by human rights bodies as one of the world’s strictest and most inhumane blockades.

The flotilla has been described as the largest maritime mission of its kind in decades, carrying delegations from at least 44 countries.

Its potential success would mark the first time in nearly 15 years that a flotilla has reached Gaza’s shores.

Israeli officials have openly raged against the mission, with far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatening to designate the activists as “terrorists” and confiscate the boats.

Source: Press TV