TUNIS, Tunisia — A vessel carrying climate activist Greta Thunberg and fellow pro-Palestinian agitators was rocked by an explosion Monday night just off Tunisia’s coast, prompting the crew to abandon ship. Activists with the so-called “Global Sumud Flotilla” (GSF) claimed the incident was a targeted drone strike—but Tunisian authorities are pushing back, calling the claim baseless.
Footage released by activists shows what appears to be a fireball descending onto the boat shortly before the explosion, which occurred aboard a Portuguese-flagged vessel forming part of the larger flotilla. The boat, reportedly carrying the GSF’s steering committee, caught fire but sustained limited damage. Remarkably, there were no injuries.
Activists quickly jumped to dramatic conclusions. “I was sleeping when I heard this explosion,” said Yusuf Omar, a journalist onboard, in comments to The Independent. “A big explosion happened right next to our diesel tank… The neighboring boats spotted a drone coming in.”
Another unnamed eyewitness was quoted saying, “I saw a drone dropping a bomb on us. There was a fire on the front deck that we fought. It is out now. Everybody’s safe.”
Footage from another boat of our Flotilla shows the exact moment the Family Boat was struck from above. pic.twitter.com/qVpUyg56uP
— Global Sumud Flotilla (@GlobalSumudFlot) September 9, 2025
But Tunisian officials were quick to refute the drone narrative. National Guard spokesperson Houcem Eddine Jebabli told AFP that “those reports have no basis in truth,” pointing instead to a far more mundane cause—a fire believed to have started in a stack of life jackets, possibly ignited by a cigarette.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, a coalition of around 20 vessels representing activists from over 40 nations, claims it is conducting “the largest civilian maritime mission” related to the Israel-Gaza conflict. It set sail from Barcelona on August 31, carrying what organizers describe as humanitarian aid—food, water, and medical supplies. However, critics note that such flotillas frequently provoke conflict and violate international maritime norms, especially when attempting to breach Israel’s naval blockade.
That blockade, in place since 2007, was instituted after Hamas—a U.S.-designated terrorist organization—seized control of Gaza. Israel maintains the blockade is a security necessity to prevent weapons smuggling to militants. Pro-Palestinian activists, however, continue to label it a form of collective punishment.
Greta Thunberg, best known for her polarizing climate activism, has recently shifted her rhetoric to match far-left narratives on Israel. She was greeted with cheers during a stopover in Tunisia, where she made incendiary remarks accusing Israel of genocide and “mass starvation.”
“Just across the water, there’s a genocide going on, a mass starvation by Israel’s murder machine,” Thunberg told crowds last week—language that mirrors Hamas propaganda more than humanitarian neutrality.
Israel already intercepted a Thunberg-led vessel earlier this year and is reportedly monitoring this new flotilla closely. Government sources suggest that if the ships attempt to breach Israeli waters, they will be detained again, and activists arrested.
While the Left continues to romanticize Thunberg’s missions as brave civil disobedience, conservatives argue it’s little more than reckless political theater designed to inflame tensions, undermine Israel’s right to self-defense, and give cover to Hamas.
Whether this explosion was caused by sabotage, human error, or activist exaggeration remains under investigation.
