Ship hit by two drones near Malta on Friday; NGO blames Israel for attack.

An international NGO that intends to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea has said it was in talks with Malta’s government about allowing a vessel to enter Maltese waters to repair damage caused by a drone attack.

The ship named Conscience, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), suffered damage to its front section including a loss of power when it was hit by two drones just outside Maltese territorial waters in the central Mediterranean early on Friday, the NGO said on Sunday.

The coalition, an international non-governmental group, said Israel, which has blockaded and bombarded Gaza, was to blame for the incident.

#FreedomFlotilla Press statement 04-05-2025 : “we received a very welcome update from the government of Malta@MaltaGov, with a stated intent to provide logistical supports and potential repairs to our ship, the ‘Conscience’….’ (read more…)https://t.co/PVk6qjJsM3

— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) May 4, 2025

The Conscience, which set off from Tunisia, had been waiting to take on board some 30 peace activists from around the world before trying to sail to Gaza in the eastern Mediterranean. The ship had been seeking to deliver aid including food and medicines to the besieged enclave, where aid groups warn people are struggling to survive following a two-month total blockade by Israel.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg said she was in Malta and had been planning to board the ship as part of the flotilla.

Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday that Malta was prepared to assist the ship with necessary repairs so that it could continue on its journey, once it was satisfied that the vessel held only humanitarian aid.

Coalition officials said on Sunday that the ship was in no danger of sinking, but that they wanted to be sure it would be safe from further attacks while undergoing repairs, and able to sail out again.

Earlier on Sunday, the coalition had accused Malta of impeding access to its ship. Malta denied the claim, saying the crew had refused assistance and even refused to allow a surveyor on board to assess the damage.

“The FFC would like to clarify our commitment to engagement with [Maltese] authorities to expedite the temporary docking of our ship for repairs and surveyors, so we can continue on the urgent humanitarian mission to Gaza,” the coalition said in a statement later in the day.

A Malta government spokesman said its offer was to assist in repairs out at sea once the boat’s cargo was verified to be aid.

Coalition officials said the surveyor was welcome to board as part of a deal being negotiated with Malta.

Israel halted humanitarian aid to Gaza two months ago, shortly before it broke a ceasefire and restarted its war against Hamas, which has devastated the Palestinian enclave and killed more than 51,000 people.

Another NGO ship on a similar mission to Gaza in 2010 was stopped and boarded by Israeli troops, and nine activists were killed. Other such ships have similarly been stopped and boarded, with activists arrested.

Hamas issued a statement about the incident off Malta, accusing Israel of “piracy” and “state terrorism”.

Move comes despite global outrage over humanitarian blockade and calls to reach lasting ceasefire.

The Israeli military will call up tens of thousands of reservists to expand the country’s assault on the besieged Gaza Strip, army chief Eyal Zamir says.

He made the announcement on Sunday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to continue the war despite growing calls from inside Israel for a deal that would bring home Israeli captives held in Gaza and end the war, which has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians.

“This week, we are sending tens of thousands of draft orders to our reserve personnel to intensify and expand our action in Gaza. We are increasing the pressure to return our people [held captive in Gaza] and defeat Hamas,” Zamir said, adding that the Israeli military would “operate in additional areas and destroy all of [Hamas’s] infrastructure above and below ground”.

The military chief made the announcement during a visit to the Atlit naval base on Israel’s northern Mediterranean coast.

The announcement came before a Netanyahu-chaired security cabinet meeting to discuss an expansion of the war in Gaza, which began in October 2023 and has decimated the Palestinian enclave.

A growing movement within Israel has called for an end to the war, and an increasing number of reservists are ignoring call-ups.

Two government officials told the Reuters news agency that the cabinet would also discuss the possible resumption of aid to Gaza as humanitarian groups warn of increased starvation in the territory since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2.

Israel continues to face widespread global outrage over the conduct of its war in Gaza, which has shattered the territory’s infrastructure as well as its healthcare system and displaced the vast majority of its 2.3 million residents at least once since the war began.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in an interview with Israeli Army Radio, said he wanted to see a “powerful” expansion of the war but did not disclose details as to what new plans might entail.

“We need to increase the intensity and continue until we achieve total victory. We must win a total victory,” he said. He demanded that Israel bomb “the food and electricity supplies” in Gaza.

Leading humanitarian groups, including the Red Cross, have warned that the humanitarian response in Gaza is on the verge of “total collapse” and Palestinians face a “daily struggle to survive” amid bombardment and the crippling blockade.

United Nations agencies have said truck convoys carrying aid are building up at the border and have not been allowed into the enclave, where a famine is looming.

Israeli officials claim an expanded military offensive would pressure Hamas into releasing the 59 remaining captives, but critics argue it further endangers their lives. Israel ending the fragile ceasefire, which saw Palestinian prisoners exchanged for Israeli captives, on March 18 has not led to any more releases.

The reserve call-ups are going out as Netanyahu promised to respond to Yemen’s Houthis after the rebels fired a missile that struck a road at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, wounding six people and prompting several major airlines to suspend flights.

Netanyahu said the response will take place “at a time and place of our choosing”.

The Houthis have said their fighters carried out the assault “in support of the oppressed Palestinian people” and to counter Israel’s “crime of genocide” in Gaza.

The activist says settlers feel emboldened by the unchecked support given to them by US President Donald Trump.

Israeli soldiers and settlers have harassed a Palestinian activist featured in a recent BBC documentary that has received praise for shedding light on the plight of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

As the world’s attention has been fixed on Israel’s 18-month war on Gaza, settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem have spiked, forcing Palestinians to flee their homes. A lack of Israeli police action has further emboldened settlers, who cite the Torah in claiming rights over Palestinian lands.

Issa Amro, who was featured in The Settlers documentary made by British-American journalist and broadcaster Louis Theroux, released footage online showing how armed soldiers and settlers raided his house in Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

Amro said police also threatened him with arrest and told him not to file a complaint in what he said is another instance of apartheid imposed by Israel in the West Bank. Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have accused Israel of practising apartheid in occupied territory.

Amro added on Sunday that the Israeli settlers who attacked him a day earlier told him United States President Donald Trump backed them. The settlers felt “emboldened because of the Trump administration’s blind support”, the activist said.

Theroux said he and his team have remained in regular contact with Amro.

. @Issaamro who featured in The Settlers has posted videos of his latest harassment by settlers and soldiers. Our team has been in regular contact with him since the documentary and over the last 24 hours. We are continuing to monitor the situation. https://t.co/asEWKkVX5h

— Louis Theroux (@louistheroux) May 4, 2025

The BBC documentary, a follow-up to Theroux’s 2012 film The Ultra Zionists, reflects on how the situation has evolved in occupied Palestinian territory.

While conducting interviews with Palestinian and Israeli figures, the documentary explored how the settler population has grown significantly and how new military outposts and Israeli infrastructure have expanded across Palestinian territories, often with direct state support.

It delves into the religious and ideological motivations behind the Israeli expansion, which has led to mass displacement of Palestinians and violent clashes, and it questions the legality and morality of the occupation as courts rule that it undermines international laws and norms.

“You bring Jewish families [to the occupied West Bank], you live Jewish life, and this will bring light instead of darkness. And this is how the state of Israel was established, and this is what we want to do in Gaza,” Daniella Weiss, a key member of the Israeli settler movement for decades, says in the documentary.

Weiss, who has enjoyed support from a number of Israeli rabbis as well, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “happy” about the settler expansion. Netanyahu has opposed the Palestinian sovereignty over Gaza and occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Settlers are Israeli citizens who live on private Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They now number more than 700,000. All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.

Settlements and their expansions are seen as the biggest hurdle in the realisation of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.

The United Nations General Assembly last year called on Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territory. This came months after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the Israeli presence in Palestinian territory is ‘”unlawful”.

Theroux himself was harassed as well when making part of the documentary in Hebron when Israeli soldiers approached him and tried to make him leave the area.

The harassment of Amro comes shortly after Hamdan Ballal, the Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, was attacked by Israeli settlers in his home in the West Bank village of Susya.

Armed and masked settlers vandalised his home and vehicle in late March and injured Ballal. While receiving treatment in an ambulance, Israeli soldiers blindfolded and arrested the filmmaker, who was later released without charge.

Like the harassment of Amro on Saturday, that attack was also seen as retaliation for the documentary’s international acclaim and its efforts to show the struggles of Palestinians in the West Bank.

The incidents have also further highlighted the dangers faced by journalists and filmmakers under Israeli occupation at a time when Israel has killed more than 200 media workers in the Gaza Strip.