Here’s what we know so far

Neville Borg, Times of Malta, May 6, 2025

Last Friday, Malta woke up to the alarming news that the Conscience, a ship operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, had been attacked some 26km off its eastern coast. The ship was reportedly en route to Gaza, carrying humanitarian aid when it was attacked.

The news quickly drew international attention but it also raised several questions, some of which remain unanswered.

Here is what we know so far about the incident.

Who are the Freedom Flotilla Coalition?

The coalition, also known as the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, is an international activist group formed in 2010, describing its goal as to “break Israel’s more than 17 year illegal and inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip”.

Over the years, the group has coordinated several similar missions, several of which have been intercepted by Israeli forces.

The group was established following a similar mission that ended in bloodshed. In May 2010, Israeli forces took to international waters to board the Mavi Marmara, a ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, killing 10 activists and wounding a further 30.

What is the Conscience?

The Conscience is the group’s latest mission, reportedly carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. In early March, Israel cut off all imports, including crucial food and medical supplies, to Gaza, with international news agencies reporting famine-like conditions across the Gaza Strip.

The Conscience left the Tunisian port of Bizerte on April 29, heading to Malta where several activists, including Greta Thunberg and retired US army colonel Mary Ann Wright, were set to join the mission. Before it could arrive, the ship suffered a “drone attack”, leaving it stranded at Hurd’s Bank, a popular bunkering spot just outside Malta’s territorial waters.

The ship, which sailed under a Palau flag, was delisted from Palau’s vessel register a day before the attack. The Palau authorities did not cite any specific reasons for the delisting but the Pacific archipelago is widely considered to be a close ally of Israel’s, leading Moviment Graffitti to speculate that the delisting “suggests this was a planned assault by powerful actors”.

According to the Maltese authorities, the ship is uninsured and unclassified, meaning it does not carry statutory certification. It is unclear whether this is a direct consequence of the ship’s delisting. While the loss of a ship’s flag does not automatically cancel its insurance or class, it typically leads insurers and classification societies to withdraw their certification.

How many people are on board?

The exact number of passengers remains unclear, as different figures have been reported in recent days.

In its initial social media posts in the immediate aftermath of the incident, the coalition said that “30 humanitarians are onboard”. A statement by the Maltese government on Friday morning said the ship was carrying 16 people, including 12 crew members and four civilians. And the campaign told Times of Malta there are currently 18 people aboard, including 12 crew members and six humanitarians.

On Monday evening, Robert Abela told parliament that six crew members had requested to disembark so they could fly back home.

How did the attack take place?

Both the Maltese government and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition described the incident in separate statements on Friday. Although the broad strokes of the incident tally across both statements, they also contain details that differ.

The coalition said the ship “came under direct attack” at 12.23am on Friday, when “armed drones attacked the front of an unarmed civilian vessel twice, causing a fire and a substantial breach in the hull”.

But, in its statement, the Maltese government said it received a Mayday call reporting a fire on board the Conscience early on Friday, at 12.20am, three minutes before the time listed by the coalition.

A later statement on Sunday published by the coalition elaborated on the timeline, saying the first bombing took place at 12.21am, with a second explosion following two and a half minutes later. The group also said that four civilians sustained minor injuries in the attack.

The government’s timeline says that a tugboat in the vicinity offered its support at 12.21am, just a minute after the initial Mayday call.

The coalition said that, after it issued a distress signal, “a vessel from Southern Cyprus was dispatched but is not providing the critical electrical support needed”. It also said that it was informed by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Rome that a tugboat had been dispatched.

It is unclear whether the two statements refer to the same vessels.

The government said the fire was under control by 1.28am, with an AFM patrol boat deployed to provide assistance.

The initial ordeal was over by 3.45am, with the ship and its crew secured, although the Maltese authorities say the ship’s crew and passengers turned down an offer to board the tugboat and come to Malta.

The ship (and its passengers) remains afloat outside Malta’s international waters, with the government and the coalition currently in talks over the former’s offer to repair the damage at sea. 

Who was behind the attack?

This question remains at the heart of the incident but concrete information remains scarce.

Activists were quick to point to possible Israeli involvement, particularly after it emerged that an Israeli military aircraft circled Malta at low altitude just hours before the incident.

Online flight tracker ADS-B Exchange shows that the aircraft spent three hours in Malta’s airspace on Thursday before returning to Israel.

However, the Maltese government reported otherwise, insisting that “at no point in time” did any aircraft or vessel enter Maltese airspace or territorial waters. “The territorial integrity of Malta was never compromised at any stage,” the authorities said.

Abela reiterated on Sunday that, while the aircraft had not entered Maltese airspace, it had entered the country’s flight information region (FIR), the area in which the Maltese authorities provide aircraft with flight information and alerting services.

“The procedures that had to be followed were followed in full,” Abela insisted.

Israel has neither claimed responsibility for the attack nor denied its involvement. Israeli authorities declined to comment when contacted by Times of Malta.

Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri remained tight-lipped when asked about potential Israeli involvement, saying investigations by a maritime security committee were underway.

Military experts who spoke to Times of Malta say the pictures of the blast’s damage indicate it was likely caused by loitering munitions such as an Orbiter 1K, an Israeli drone designed for precision strikes.

What happens next?

The Maltese authorities have repeatedly turned down the activists’ requests to be allowed to enter Maltese waters.

Abela said that Malta would pay for repairs as long as activists allowed a surveyor to board and inspect the ship’s damages, as well as ensure it is truly carrying humanitarian aid. Following their initial reluctance, the coalition appears to have relented, saying they welcomed Malta’s offer. Yesterday evening, Abela told parliament that a government-appointed surveyor was on his way to the  vessel to start the investigation.

However, the geopolitical fallout of the incident is likely to linger long after the ship has sailed, with the matter sparking concerns over Malta’s security capabilities and neutrality.

This is not the first time that Malta has inadvertently found itself in the crosshairs of the Middle Eastern conflict.

In 2010, Bianca Zammit, a Maltese pro-Palestinian activist was shot in the leg while attending a protest in Gaza, triggering an official protest by the Maltese government and a timid apology by the Israeli ambassador to Malta.

More recently, Malta has reportedly faced pressure to refrain from joining several other countries in formally recognising Palestinian statehood.

Neville Borg
Fact-checker
Neville runs Times of Malta’s fact-checking service, an EU-funded project operated in collaboration with the University of Malta.