The Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s Conscience vessel, which was damaged in an alleged drone strike late last week, was carrying a “limited” supply of humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip, Malta said Tuesday.
The inspection revealed that the Conscience was carrying food and drink for the crew to last some 30 days, with the captain saying that “a limited part of the food and drink supplies were for humanitarian purposes,” a surveyor dispatched by Malta stated after being allowed on the vessel.
He did not say what the remainder of the cargo on the Hamas-linked ship consisted of, or what could have caused the fires aboard it.
The surveyor was only allowed to board the Conscience on Monday night after initially being denied access by the crew, despite Malta having offered to pay for the repairs if the ship was truly carrying humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip.
According to a Maltese government statement, the appraiser found that critical components, including the hull and engine room, were found in “good or satisfactory condition and free from water ingress.”
He also said that most of the vessel’s important equipment, such as the two main engines, generators, bow thrust and the fire extinguishers remained “operational” following the alleged attack.
“The government will be carrying out repairs which require immediate attention so that the vessel sails to its next destination,” said a spokesperson for Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela, adding the repairs would be carried out in international waters outside the country’s territory.
Over the weekend, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition claimed that the ship was unable make port after the Republic of Palau revoked its flag rights.
Authorities in Malta, Greece and Turkey have threatened to confiscate the vessel if it docked at their ports, Tighe Barry, a U.S.-based anti-Israel activist with the CodePink group, told the Associated Press agency.
Barry said the Pacific island nation, which often votes with Israel at the United Nations, revoked the flag of the Conscience right before the drone attack.
Abela stressed on Sunday that while Valetta would not allow the ship to dock in any of its ports, “especially since it doesn’t have a flag and insurance,” his government was offering to repair the damages.
“We are offering to pay for the repairs after we confirm the ship is, indeed, carrying humanitarian aid,” the premier told reporters.
“The captain is refusing to let the surveyor on board,” he said. “We also offered to take all crew and passengers in, but the offer was refused.”
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has claimed that the Conscience was hit twice by drones 17 nautical miles (19.5 miles) east of Malta overnight on May 1, “causing a fire and a substantial breach in the hull.”
“The drone strike appears to have deliberately targeted the ship’s generator, leaving the crew without power and placing the vessel at great risk of sinking,” according to the statement on Friday morning.
The coalition noted in the statement that its latest attempt to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza had been organized “under a media blackout to avoid any potential sabotage.” The Conscience had been waiting to take on board approximately 30 anti-Israel protesters before trying to sail to the Gaza Strip, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
Two security sources cited by Times of Malta on Monday suggested that photo evidence of the damage indicated it was “a strategic military attack intended to disable the vessel and not kill those on board.”
There were no casualties from the alleged strikes. Maltese authorities sent a tugboat and brought the fire aboard the vessel under control.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition includes several Turkish NGOs, among them the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation and the Mavi Marmara Association, responsible for the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, in which nine activists were killed after they attacked Israeli naval commandos.
Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya channel reported, citing a Western security source, that Hamas was behind the vessel and that passengers had planned to attack IDF soldiers as they approached Gaza’s shore.
The coalition has accused Jerusalem of launching the drone strikes on the Conscience, saying that “Israeli ambassadors must be summoned and answer to violations of international law, including the ongoing blockade and the bombing of our civilian vessel in international waters.”
A JNS request for comment to the Israel Defense Forces regarding the allegations went unanswered as of press time on Sunday afternoon.
An Israeli Air Force plane left Israel on Thursday and circled Malta hours before the alleged attack, the Times of Malta reported on Friday. According to the report, which cited flight tracker data, the C-130 Hercules spent around three hours in the country’s airspace.
The Maltese government stated in response, “At no point in time, during the past 48 hours, did any aircraft or vessel, currently mentioned in local and foreign media in relation to the case of the vessel Conscience, enter Maltese Sovereign Airspace or the territorial sea.” It added, “The territorial integrity of Malta was never compromised at any stage.”
In March, Israel Katz, Jerusalem’s minister of defense, instructed the military to refrain from blocking foreign pro-Palestinian protesters seeking to enter the Strip by sea, but rather to seize their vessels.
According to Israel’s Channel 12, Katz’s March 6 announcement came in response to intelligence suggesting that protest groups were preparing renewed attempts to breach the blockade of the coastal enclave.
“Whoever comes to demonstrate on the shores of Gaza, we will send them into Gaza and use the ships to evacuate Gaza residents who are interested in leaving voluntarily,” Katz stated.
His office added, “The defense minister instructed the IDF to allow the protest flotillas to reach Gaza’s coast, disembark the protesters in Gaza, and seize the ships and transfer them to Ashdod Port so that they can be used to evacuate Gaza residents who are interested in leaving Gaza.”