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FREEDOM FLOTILLA HEADING TO GAZA ATTACKED BY DRONES  
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Saurav Sarkar
May 7, 2025
The Progressive
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_ The ship, which was carrying human rights activists and
humanitarian aid bound for Gaza, was anchored in international waters
as it awaited permission to dock at Malta to pick up pro-Palestinian
activists, was attacked at least twice by drones _

The passenger ship Conscience, which was attacked by drones last
week., Photo: Ann Wright // The Progressive Magazine

 

In the early hours of Friday, May 2, shortly after midnight local time
and just a few nautical miles outside the territorial waters of Malta,
the passenger ship _Conscience _was attacked at least twice by
drones, leaving a hole near its bow and the vessel seriously damaged.
The ship, which was carrying human rights activists and humanitarian
aid bound for Gaza, was anchored in international waters as it awaited
permission to dock at Malta to pick up pro-Palestinian activists.

“We are dealing with a brutal attack on an innocent ship,” retired
U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright, a spokesperson for the Freedom Flotilla
Coalition [[link removed]] (FFC), told
[[link removed]] _Democracy
Now!_ on Friday. “While we can not yet identify the source of the
drones, there is no doubt in my mind that there is a history of
violence that has been directed toward the flotillas from the state of
Israel.” The _Times of Malta _reported
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an Israeli warplane was circling the airspace over Malta near the time
of the attack.

Why would Israel attack a passenger ship anchored in international
waters near Malta? Reports of the details
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the story vary
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example, the number of activists on board and the distance of the ship
from Malta’s waters are contested—but the basic story is clear.
The _Conscience _was anchored outside Malta’s waters on May 2 with
a mix of crew and activists on the ship. About sixty more people from
more than twenty countries were scheduled to board from the island
nation, including Wright and the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg,
according to the FFC. 

“Anyone could have been on that boat—it could have been Greta, it
could have been me. The ship was anchored, clearly civilian, and
preparing for a humanitarian voyage,” Wright told _The Quint_
[[link removed]].

 
Ismail Behesti, one of the key organizers of the flotilla, in front
of hole in the ship from the drone attacks.  (Photo:  The
Progressive Magazine)
The _Conscience_ is carrying food, water, and medicine bound for
Gaza, says FFC spokesperson and lawyer Huwaida Arraf, who is not
traveling with the flotilla. Elliott Adams, who traveled with the
FFC’s 2024 attempt
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break the siege of Gaza, tells _The Progressive_, “[It is] a small
effort to bring a little bit of food and humanitarian .” The
previous trip was never allowed to set sail due to
[[link removed]] Israeli
political pressure.

After the drone strikes, which hit the generator, the vessel was on
fire and sinking. Those onboard sent out an SOS message, and nearby
boats responded to the call. However, they were unable or unwilling to
patch the ship such that it could continue its journey, and the
passengers refused to disembark from the _Conscience_ onto a Maltese
ship, according to CNN
[[link removed]].

When FFC activists attempted to reach the _Conscience _in another
vessel to board on the following day, they were refused permission by
Maltese officials, according to Arraf. Malta also refused
the _Conscience _permission to dock, but eventually did agree to
repair
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ship in international waters. The government of Malta did not respond
to requests for comment.

The _Conscience_ voyage is the latest in a series of civilian
attempts to deliver humanitarian assistance to Gaza since the
territory was placed under siege by Israel in 2007. Most infamously,
an international flotilla of eight ships including the _Mavi
Marmara_ was raided
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the Israeli military in May 2010, resulting in the killing of nine
activists and a number of people wounded on both sides. The Israeli
forces used smoke bombs, stun grenades, and live ammunition; the
activists fought back with their fists, metal rods, and kitchen
knives. 

Now, in addition to the overall siege on Gaza, the FFC is opposing
Israel’s ongoing genocide and the most recent two-month
period during which
[[link removed]] no food, water,
medicine, or other essentials have been allowed into the region. While
an exact death toll is unknown for this period in particular, the
combination of deprivation and air strikes has killed dozens of
civilians on many days.

“It’s hard to comprehend how really evil this is. no question
anywhere that starving a civilian population is illegal,” says
Arraf.

The United States has sent
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$300 billion to Israel since its founding in 1948, nearly three
quarters of which has been military aid. Israel in return imports 78
percent of its weapons from the United States.

“I have been horrified in the blatant complicity of the United
States in providing bombs, weapons and targeting information to the
Israeli military that has killed over 60,000 Palestinians and left
hundreds of thousands wounded and homeless,” Wright explained in a
statement to _The Progressive_.

In the face of that complicity or governmental inaction from other
states like those of the European Union, civilian efforts to ease or
end the plight of Palestinians have proliferated. These range from
the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions
[[link removed]] (BDS) movement to student protests
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the numerous freedom flotillas
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“Every person has to do whatever they can to try to stop this
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says Adams. “We all have different capacities, but doing nothing is
not okay.”

_[SAURAV SARKAR is a writer based in the New York area. He can be
reached at sauravsarkar.com or on Bluesky @sauravthewriter.]_

* Humanitarian Aid
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* Gaza
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* Ship to Gaza
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* Israel
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* killer drones
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* human rights activists
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* Freedom Flotilla
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* Malta
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* Palestine
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* Israel-Gaza War
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* Greta Thunberg
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* war crimes
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* Conscience
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