After Twin Blasts on Aid Ship, NGO Says Malta is Obstructing Repairs

The operator of a small aid ship that had planned to make a forbidden voyage to Gaza says that Maltese authorities are interfering with personnel transfers and salvage efforts, two days after suspected Israeli drone strikes disabled the vessel. The vessel has also been deflagged by its registry, leaving it stateless, and at least three nations have reportedly denied it a port of refuge.

The Conscience (ex name Adler Nordica) is a 1972-built passenger ship of 120 dwt capacity. It was operating under German ownership until 2023, when it was sold to Turkish interests. It was reflagged in Palau in 2024, and in January 2025 it was resold to a Libyan firm based in Tripoli. Renamed Conscience, it is now operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an NGO that has taken up the mantle of the famous 2010 Free Gaza Movement flotilla.

The group's objective is to run the Israeli Navy's blockade of Gaza and deliver a symbolic quantity of humanitarian aid to shore. Israel has imposed strict limits on food aid deliveries to Gaza on and off for the past year, and for the last two months, enhanced restrictions - intended to increase pressure on terrorist group Hamas - have reduced food imports for the civilian populace to near-zero. Israel has offered to allow aid flows to restart, but only if delivered to Israeli-authorized sites in a small section of southern Gaza, with no food available in the rest of the territory. The UN has refused this restricted delivery plan, alleging that it is an attempt to coerce the population into moving into a concentration area to get food.

"Food stocks have now mainly run out, water access has become impossible," reported United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesperson Olga Cherevko from Gaza on Friday. "Gaza is inching closer to running on empty."

In this context, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition attempted to organize a blockade run to get food to Gaza's shores. Their plan was to bring dozens of activists aboard the Conscience - including the climate activist Greta Thunberg - and set sail from Malta with an aid cargo. On Friday, as the passengers were gathering in Malta and preparing to board, two blasts hit the ship, damaging the hull and disabling a generator. Video from aboard the ship showed a blast hole in the foredeck and smoke throughout the vessel's interior; crewmembers reported that the ship was taking on water at the bow.

The NGO claims that the blasts were from two Israeli drone strikes. Malta is 1,000 nautical miles west of Israel, outside of range for most drone operations, suggesting a different launch point if the NGO's allegations are true.

On Sunday, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition alleged that Maltese authorities had denied activists access to the ship in international waters, forcing a delegation to go back to shore to go through Maltese customs and immigration. "This is the second day in a row where Maltese authorities have blocked FFC access to its ship, crew and participants," the NGO claimed, adding that Malta has refused requests to provide a port of refuge for repairs.

Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela told Reuters that his government was not interfering with the ship, and said that the crew had refused to allow surveyors and Maltese police to board to investigate the damage.

It is not the first time that an activist group has attempted to breach the Gaza blockade. In 2010, the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms financed a multi-ship flotilla to deliver aid to the restricted district's shores. Israeli commandos boarded the ships as they approached, and nine activists were killed in the ensuing melee.