May 2 (UPI) -- A ship bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza was attacked by drones overnight in the Mediterranean Sea off Malta, setting the vessel ablaze and causing it to take on water.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said in a post on X that the 1,000-ton Conscience put out a SOS distress signal in the early hours of Friday after drones fired on it as it was sailing in international waters, approximately 16 miles off the coast of Malta, with 30 activists on board.
"The front of the vessel was targeted twice, resulting in a fire and a breach in the hull. The ship is currently located in international waters near Malta. We have sent an SOS distress signal out but no one has responded. Water is coming into the ship," said the group, which posted a video of a fierce above-deck blaze, which was then apparently extinguished by onboard firefighting systems.
FFC said it had been conducting the aid mission under a media blackout to reduce the likelihood of what it called "Israeli sabotage."
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It did not provide any evidence for the allegation.
Press officer Yasemin Acar told CNN that the ship was having serious difficulty.
"There is a hole in the vessel right now and the ship is sinking," she said.
The group said in a news release that all communication had been lost with the Conscience following the attack, which it said "appears to have deliberately targeted the ship's generator, leaving the crew without power and placing the vessel at great risk of sinking."
"The last communication in the early morning of May 2 indicated the drones are still circling the ship," said FFC.
FFC said the Conscience was en route to Malta pick up volunteers from at least 21 countries who had traveled to Malta to join the mission to Gaza when it was attacked, among them "prominent figures" including the Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, and retired U.S. Army Colonel Mary Ann Wright.
The authorities in Malta confirmed there had been a blaze aboard the ship, which they said was now out, and that after monitoring the situation had dispatched a tug boat to assist in fighting the fire.
"All crew were confirmed safe but refused to board the tug. Assistance was provided to support interior firefighting efforts," the Maltese government said in a statement.
Data from the Marine Traffic shipping tracking website showed the Conscience departed the Tunisian port of Bizerte on Tuesday evening bound for the Maltese capital, Valletta.
FFC said the Conscience was on a "non-violent humanitarian mission to challenge Israel's illegal and deadly siege of Gaza, and to deliver desperately needed, life-saving aid" to 2 million Palestinians, with no food assistance or medicine permitted to enter since Israel imposed an embargo two months ago.
"Since March 2, Israel has barred all aid trucks from entering Gaza, deliberately starving over two million civilians in full view of the international community. Humanitarian experts estimate the population in Gaza requires at least 600 aid trucks each day to meet even the most basic needs, yet not a single truck has been allowed in for two months," the group said.
It called on countries to summon Israeli ambassadors to answer for "violations of international law, including the ongoing blockade and the bombing of our civilian vessel in international waters."
The U.N. World Food Program has warned that it expects Gaza's network of soup kitchens, the last remaining source of sustenance for Palestinians in the strip, to shut down any day as their last stocks of food run dry.
WFP said it delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens from its depots in Gaza on April 25.
"These kitchens are expected to fully run out of food in the coming days. For weeks, hot meal kitchens have been the only consistent source of food assistance for people in Gaza. Despite reaching just half the population with only 25 percent of daily food needs, they have provided a critical lifeline," said WFP.
Israel has said it took the step of halting aid going into Gaza because deliveries were being diverted, or stolen by Hamas, for military purposes.
