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”.

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.

More than 3,500 children below the age of five years “face imminent death by starvation”, Gaza’s Government Media Office (GMO) has said, adding that some 70,000 children are being hospitalised in the enclave due to severe malnutrition amid more than two months of total Israeli blockade.

“Under this systematic blockade, more than 3,500 children under the age of five face imminent death by starvation, while approximately 290,000 children are on the brink of death,” the GMO statement on Telegram said on Sunday.

“At a time when 1.1 million children daily lack the minimum nutritional requirements for survival, this crime is being perpetrated by the ‘Israeli’ occupation using starvation as a weapon, amid shameful international silence,” it added.

At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death, causing global outrage, but that has failed to convince Israel to allow entry of aid into the enclave of 2.3 million people.

A shortage of food and supplies has driven the territory towards starvation, according to aid agencies. Supplies to treat and prevent malnutrition are depleted and quickly running out as documented cases of malnutrition rise.

The price of what little food is still available in the market is unaffordable for most in Gaza, where the United Nations says more than 80 percent of the population relies on aid.

Aid groups and rights campaigners have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war.

Israel, for its part, insists the blockade is necessary to pressure Hamas to release the captives it still holds. Of the 59 captives still in Gaza, 24 are believed to be alive.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 52,495 Palestinians and wounded 118,366, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The GMO updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.