Iran Condemns Israeli Drone Attack on Gaza-Bound Aid Ship

In a statement on Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei roundly condemned the drone attack by the Zionist regime on the ship ‘Conscience’ which was carrying food and humanitarian aids to the Gaza Strip.

Referring to the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip through bombardment and the imposition of famine and starvation on the residents of the enclave, he said the attack on Conscience, which has been carried out as part of the genocidal and colonial erasure plot against the Palestinian people aimed at ensuring the continuation of the food and medicine blockade against the innocent people of Gaza, is a blatant crime against the Palestinian people and a terrorist act against the security and safety of maritime navigation, the ministry’s website reported.

Baqaei underlined that depriving the wounded, the sick, and grieving children and women of Gaza of food, water, and medicine is a clear instance of war crimes and a crime against humanity and constitutes an assault on the foundations of international humanitarian laws.

He also described the US and other supporters of the Zionist regime as complicit in the crimes.

Baqaei reaffirmed Iran’s solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine in Gaza and the West Bank, urging the international community and Muslim countries to decisively condemn the Zionist regime and create the conditions to end the impunity of the regime’s officials and to prosecute and punish them.

The Gaza-bound aid ship caught fire and issued an SOS in the early hours of Friday after being attacked by an Israeli drone off the coast of Malta in international waters.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which is campaigning to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza, said activists were aboard its ship carrying humanitarian aid when the attack happened just after midnight local time.