By Angeliki Koutantou and Alvise Armellini
ATHENS/ROME (Reuters) -An international aid flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza said on Wednesday it was attacked overnight by drones in international waters off Greece, prompting Italy to send a navy ship to come to its assistance.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is using about 50 civilian boats to try and break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, with many lawyers and activists onboard, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
The vessels were attacked by 12 drones in international waters 30 nautical miles off the Greek island of Gavdos, said Marikaiti Stasinou, a spokesperson for March to Gaza Greece, which is part of the flotilla.
All passengers are safe after drones exploded over the vessels, she told Reuters.
Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said in a statement the sea convoy had been targeted by “currently unidentified perpetrators”. He expressed the “strongest condemnation” of the incident.
He added the Italian multi-purpose frigate Fasan, previously sailing north of Crete, was “already on route” towards the flotilla “for possible rescue operations.”
An Italian official said the navy had been mobilised primarily to help Italians on board. “If needed, our frigate has a well-stocked infirmary”, he said.
Israel has repeatedly criticised the flotilla, accusing its activists of complicity with the Hamas militant group.
On Wednesday, the foreign ministry warned on X that Israel “would take the necessary measures” to stop it if it did not accept the alternative proposal to drop aid in an Israeli port, leaving it to Israeli authorities to take it to Gaza.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the overnight attack.
STUN GRENADES
Benedetta Scuderi, an Italian member of the European Parliament for the leftist Greens-European Free Alliance group who has joined the flotilla, told Italian public radio RAI that drones had dropped stun grenades.
One of them hit the mast of the sailing boat on which she is travelling, “completely damaging” the main sail, she said.
“We are in international waters south of Crete and we were attacked for three hours without anyone intervening,” the parliamentarian said.
A Greek coastguard official told Reuters that members of the flotilla contacted them around 0200 on Wednesday to inform them of the incident. When approached by the European Union’s border agency Frontex, however, the flotilla said it did not require assistance, the official added.
Thunberg said several boats suffered damage after they reported targeted explosions and unidentified objects dropping.
“We were aware of the risks of these kinds of attacks so that’s nothing that is going to stop us,” she said in a conversation with U.N. Palestinian Territories expert Francesca Albanese, which was broadcast live on Instagram on Wednesday.
“We’re very, very determined to continue our mission.”
This month, the flotilla reported drone attacks on its boats while moored in a Tunisian port.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou in Athens and Alvise Armellini in Rome; Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas, Renee Maltezou, Crispian Balmer, Angelo Amante, Editing by Edward McAllister, Alexandra Hudson)
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