The fire that affected the Family Boat of the international flotilla for Gaza in Sidi Bou Saïd continues to debate. While the Ministry of the Interior evokes “a start of fire caused by a cigarette”, videos circulating online show an object in flames descending from the sky, reviving the suspicions of a targeted attack. The episode, unpublished on Tunisian soil, especially reactivates the memory of the muscular interceptions of Israel against the pro-Palestinian fleets in the Mediterranean.
Consciousness, a ship chartered by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and beating pavilion of Palau, transported international human rights and humanitarian aid for Gaza. On May 2, when it was anchored outside the Maltese territorial waters, the ship was attacked by two drones which targeted its generators, causing a fire and a breach in the hull. Fortunately, no victim has been reported
The most striking is also the case of Mavi Marmara In May 2010. This Turkish flotilla, responsible for humanitarian aid for Gaza, had been approached on the high seas by Israeli commandos. The operation, which had done Nine dead among Turkish activists (A tenth will later succumb to his injuries), had provoked a major diplomatic crisis and a wave of international convictions.
Since then, several other fleets – in 2011, 2012 then in 2018 – have tried to symbolically break the blockade of Gaza. They were all intercepted by the Israeli navy, the ships being systematically confused towards the port of Ashdod. None of these operations officially involved drone strikes.
Israel and the naval war from a distance
If used drones, especially to monitor the fleets, his army is accused for his remote operations. In recent years, she has been accused of having targeted ships linked to Iran in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, by Sabotages, submarine mines and drone strikes. Methods that now feed suspicions weighing on the Tunisian incident.
If the track of an external attack were to be confirmed, let us recall that the Ministry of the Interior still denies this version, it would be the First incident of this type in Tunisiasigning a hostile action against an international flotilla on its territory. For the time being, the Tunisian authorities are trying to explain the accidental explanation, while the images shared online continue to feed doubt and to feed the controversy.
Between the memory of past flotils and questions about the fire of Sidi Bou Saïd, the question remains: is it a common accident or a new page in the long shadow war around Gaza?
