Tripoli— The Omar Al-Mukhtar boat had departed from the Tripoli seaport on Sunday evening to join 50 other boats of the Global Resilience (Sumud) Flotilla (GRF) with aim to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza which has been under a genocidal attack by Israel for two years.
On Tuesday, the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) was approaching Greek territorial waters near Crete, with organizers estimating it will reach Gaza within six days.
On the early morning hours Wednesday, the GRF said in a statement “several drones flew close to them off the coast of Greece and shot down unidentified objects, communications were jammed, and explosions were heard from several boats.” Al Jazeera reported that explosions occurred after 15 drones flew over several ships in the flotilla.
The Omar Al-Mukhtar boat carries a fully equipped medical clinic aiming to serve as a medical and rescue mission to other boats in the GSF.
Sixteen individuals, including Libyan politicians and international activists along with British, Canadian, Nigerian, and American participants are on board the boat.
On 14 September, the main convoy departed from the northern port city of Bizerte, Tunisia, with activists from more than 40 countries aboard. The organizers and participants said they were determined to break Israel’s siege on Gaza and deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid.
A representative of the Libyan Air Ambulance Service, Dr. Mohammed Al-Adgham, told RT that the clinic is equipped to provide the necessary medical care and that the service is ready to provide medical services and assistance at any time, whether to the ship’s crew or to the other ships participating in the flotilla.
The Omar Al-Mukhtar convoy is led by a group of “humanitarians who called for participation in response to the global flotilla’s call to lift the unjust blockade on Gaza,” Saad Al-Maghribi, a founding member of the convoy, told Bawabat Al-Wasat.
Al-Maghribi said the Omar Al-Mukhtar mission was sponsored by popular initiatives and humanitarian contributions, in addition to the participation of charitable and community organizations. He noted that the it met all the required Libyan approvals.