Netanyahu ordered drone attacks against humanitarian aid boats to Gaza off Tunisia, sources say sources

Washington – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly approved military operations in two ships at the beginning of last month which were part of a Gaza-based flotilla with aid and pro-Palestinian supporters, including a Swedish climate activist Greta ThunbergCBS News learned.

Two US information officials informed of the issue told CBS News that Israeli forces on September 8 and 9 had launched drones from a submarine and had dropped incendiary devices on the boats that were moored outside the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou, said, said fire. Officials spoke under anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about national security issues.

Under international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflicts, the use of incendiary weapons against a civilian population or civil objects is prohibited in all circumstances.

Israel applied a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, first declaring the restriction in January 2009, when his navy announced the closure of coastal waters to all maritime traffic. This decision occurred two years after Hamas took control of the region following a brief but violent civil war with the Fatah rival party, the political and military organization of the Arab Palestinians, officially known as the National Movement of Palestinian Liberation.

Israeli defense forces did not respond to the request for comments from CBS News.

The Global Sumud Flotilla organized the international maritime initiative which aims to unravel the naval blocking of Israel of Gaza and to provide aid in the territory torn by the war.

On September 8, an incendiary system was deposited on the family, a Portuguese flag ship. Global Sumud Flotilla told CBS News that the night preceding the attack, the Portuguese legislative Mariana Mortágua was on board. Activists believe that the authors deliberately waited for “elected officials or high -level figures to be absent,” the group said in a statement at CBS News on Friday.

On September 9, the Alma, a British flag ship, was attacked in the same way as the family. In both cases, the group said last month that the boats had been damaged by the fire, but the crew had quickly extinguished the flames. No one was killed or injured.

“Confirmation of Israeli involvement would not surprise us; it was simply going to expose a model of arrogance and impunity so grotesque that it cannot escape a possible calculation,” said Global Sumud Flotilla on Friday in its press release.

The statement added: “That the aim of these attacks was to kill us, scare us or deactivate our boats, they endangered civilians and reckless humanitarian volunteers. The world must take note: attempts to silence, intimidate or hinder our commitment to the Palestinian cause and people will not succeed.

In September, the Tunisian authorities challenged that drones abandoning the incendiary devices caused the fire, claiming rather than an initial inspection indicated that the explosion was born inside the boat, according to BBC News. Pro-Israeli accounts on social networks said the fires were launched after the activists did not properly use a Flare pistol.

Images published by the Global Sumud Flotilla and obtained by CBS News seem to show a ball of flames falling on the boat, causing the fire on board, instead of the fire from the interior of the ship. The stationary cameras affixed to ships do not capture where the flames come from before landing on the boat and do not represent a rocket rocket.

In separate incidents at the end of September, the group of activists said They were attacked by 15 low altitude drones while navigating south of Greece. The Global Sumud Flotilla said that at least 13 explosions had been heard on and around several flotilla and objects had been abandoned on at least 10 boats, causing damage. Although no victim has been reported, the activist group said their communication systems had also been disrupted.

This week, Israeli naval forces intercepted Most ships for Gaza, holding dozens of activists with Thunberg and several European legislators, a decision that aroused rapid international criticisms.

American citizens traveling on the flotilla have also been detained by Israel. A head of the State Department told CBS News that the Department was monitoring the situation and is committed to providing assistance to American citizens. The manager also described the flotilla as “deliberate and useless provocation”, especially since the Trump administration continues to request a negotiated solution To end the war in Gaza.

Two Americans who sail with the Global Sumud Flotilla including the veteran of the Marine Corps Jessica Clotfelter and Greg Stoker, organizer of the delegation of veterans in the group. Wednesday, they radius Via Zoom on CBS News Chicago, about an hour before the Israeli navy intercepts the flotilla.

“We are a mission of civil help, trying to break the headquarters in Gaza, and we carry humanitarian aid in accordance with international humanitarian and maritime law,” said Stoker.

Clotfelter told CBS News Chicago that the images that have come out of Gaza for two years were “tearing” and “insufficient”.

She added: “I mean, I probably cried every day on this boat because violence since we took off on August 31 has intensified.”

Olivia Gazis contributed to this report.