Damaged aid ship, Conscience, being towed to Misrata in Libya

The aid ship that was allegedly attacked by Israeli drones just outside Maltese territorial waters is being towed for repairs to the Libyan port city of Misrata.

Shipping industry sources have confirmed that the Conscience is being towed by the Italian-flagged tugboat Cala Azzurra. The vessels are expected to reach Misrata on Monday evening.

On Sunday, Foreign Minister Ian Borg said on X, formerly Twitter, that arrangements had been made for the Conscience to be “towed to a Mediterranean port”. He did not specify where but in his post he thanked Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan for assistance.

The vessel Conscience, part of the Gaza Flotilla Movement, had been anchored at Hurd Bank, just outside Malta’s territorial waters since the beginning of May.

The ship was damaged by what activists believe were two drone attacks in the middle of the night. The bow was damaged and the ship disabled.

Activists blamed Israel for the attack, which came several hours after an Israeli air force Hercules plane circled over Hurd Bank before returning to base in Israel.

The vessel, which had been anchored outside Malta to take on board activists and humanitarian supplies for Gaza, was on a mission to breach the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian enclave.

Malta refused the ship entry into territorial waters but offered to repair the vessel out at sea. The ship had been de-flagged by Palau on the morning of the attack, rendering it stateless.

However, Borg’s announcement on Sunday came as a surprise since the expectation was that repairs were going to be done at Hurd Bank.

Nonetheless, sources have told MaltaToday that the Turkish government acted as a broker, given that the Freedom Flotilla is operated by the Turkish group IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation.

“IHH’s Turkish links and the fact that the vessel has Libyan ownership made it easy to reach an arrangement for the ship to be towed to Misrata for repairs,” the sources said.

Turkey has good relations with the internationally-recognised Libyan administration in Tripoli and maintains a significant military presence in the country.

The Turkish military operates in various locations in Libya controlled by the Tripoli administration, including Misrata.

READ ALSO | Blog: Why do the ‘Winds of Heaven’ lead back to Israel?