Israeli military plane never entered Maltese airspace – government

Updated with new details

The Israeli military aircraft that circled over Hurd’s Bank on Thursday never entered into Maltese territorial airspace, the Maltese government confirmed on Friday evening.

In a statement the Maltese government said Malta's Maritime Security Committee (MMSC) had been meeting since the early morning to monitor the situation concerning the humanitarian aid vessel Conscience that was the target of an alleged drone attack.

While no direct connection has been officially established between the drone attack and the military aircraft, the operators of the ship, Freedom Flotilla Coalition, have blamed Israel for the assault.

In its statement on Friday evening the Maltese government said: “The committee clarifies that at no point in time, during the past 48 hours, any aircraft or vessel, currently mentioned in local and foreign media in relation to the case of the vessel Conscience, entered Maltese Sovereign Airspace or the Territorial sea (12 nautical miles from shore).”

The Israeli aircraft is a KC 130 H Hercules with registration number 4X FBZ/545, deployed by the 131 Squadron of the Israeli Airforce

Flight tracking websites showed the plane entering Maltese airspace and circling over the south and east of the island, giving rise to speculation that the Israeli military aircraft violated Malta’s sovereignty.

Official flight tracking information obtained exclusively by MaltaToday shows the accurate flightpath of the military aircraft on Thursday afternoon. It shows the aircraft circling over Hurd’s Bank just outside the 12-mile territorial airspace.

Meanwhile the government statement issued on Friday, said the “territorial integrity of the Republic of Malta was never compromised at any stage.”

“The MMSC will keep on monitoring the situation, whilst assistance will be provided to the vessel, according to what is stipulated under international law,” the government statement read.

Information obtained by MaltaToday suggests that the Israeli aircraft is a KC 130 H Hercules with registration number 4X FBZ/545, deployed by the 131 Squadron of the Israeli Airforce. The squadron is based at the Nevatim Air Base.

Several hours after this manoeuvre, the humanitarian aid ship Conscience issued a Mayday alert, saying it was attacked by a drone. The organisation operating the vessel, Freedom Flotilla Coalition, has claimed the attack was carried out by Israel. The ship was anchored at Hurd’s Bank when the attack happened.