Video of projectile landing on Gaza flotilla boat contradicts authorities' account
The unconfirmed fireball that landed on the deck of a Global Sumud Flotilla vessel in Tunisia was dubbed a drone attack by the organisers
The Global Sumud Flotilla, a mission of more than 20 vessels that is bound for Gaza carrying humanitarian aid, said one of its main boats was struck by a drone while docked in Tunisia.
The incident unfolded on the Portuguese-flagged Family vessel overnight, while several people were on board. No one was hurt, and a fire on board was extinguished by the crew.
Tunisian authorities rejected the claim that a drone was to blame for an explosion that sparked a fire on board the Family. The Interior Ministry said there was no drone attack, and that they were investigating a fire that originated on the boat—in a life jacket.
However, videos posted by the Global Sumud Flotilla painted a different picture. In one video, an unconfirmed projectile can be seen heading towards the boat before a bang and an intense flash of light, triggering a fire.
The opposing narratives sparked speculation about the truth of the incident. Were the videos genuine? If so, what type of projectile could have been used?
Here’s what we know.
No evidence of AI use
AI content detectors, while not always accurate, can give an indication as to the likelihood of a piece of content being generated or altered by artificial intelligence programmes.
With the Tunisian authorities denying any drone activity in the area or any projectiles launched from the sky, one clip shared by the flotilla became particularly important to investigate.
The video, apparently filmed from a CCTV camera on board another boat nearby, showed a bright light crashing downwards onto the vessel. The video is in black and white, but the projectile can clearly be seen sparking as it descends. When it hits, there is an intense, bright light from an apparent explosion.
According to the timestamp on the clip, the footage was filmed on September 9 at 29 minutes past midnight. The timestamps matched with a series of videos released by the Global Sumud Flotilla, which showed people on board the vessel running for cover as the fireball erupted.
We checked this clip on SynthID, Google’s AI detection tool, which scans for watermarks that would indicate whether it was altered with Google AI tools. No Google AI content was detected in the scan.
Another AI detector, Hive Moderation, gave a result that the video was “not likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content,” with a likelihood score of 0.2%. Although this type of AI detector does not rely on watermarking technology, it can often give a hint as to the veracity of a clip.
In a press conference the morning after the incident, activists who were on board the vessel at the time gave their eyewitness accounts and described how a fire broke out on the deck after the object struck. They managed to get the blaze under control using fire extinguishers.
Portuguese activist Miguel Duarte, who was on the back of the boat at the time, said he at first heard a drone before seeing it hovering about three or four metres above his head. After calling other crew members’ attention to it, the group saw the drone “move to the forward part of the deck, it stood a few seconds on top of a bunch of life jackets, and then dropped a bomb,” he said. The explosion caused a fire on board, the activist said.
No drone is visible in the video, which was filmed at close range. Duarte’s version of events otherwise appears to match what is visible in the footage, where the projectile can be seen coming down onto the front deck of the boat.
The flotilla’s spokespeople also released a statement on the morning of September 9, outlining the incident and promising to release more information when it becomes available. The group said it would not deter them from their mission of reaching Gaza with aid.
Claims of staged attack or flare
As reporters, analysts, and members of the general public took to social media to unpack the incident, claims circulated about whether the alleged attack could have been staged or whether the projectile seen in the video could have been a flare fired from another boat.
This X account suggested that the incident “seems staged” because the object was on fire before it reached the boat, saying: “Drones don't fly engulfed in flames, neither do missiles.”
However, that statement is untrue: small, drone-launched thermobaric or incendiary weapons do exist. Unlike conventional explosive projectiles, which would detonate at the point of impact, incendiary weapons, such as those that use thermite, can release fuel to create a fireball as they are dropping. The use of incendiary drone weapons like these has been documented in conflicts around the world, including in Ukraine and Gaza—albeit at a much larger scale.
The video does seem to suggest a more significant ignition of a fuel cloud when the object strikes the boat and detonates. The sudden beam of light seen at the moment of impact is consistent with weapons that release a combustible fuel cloud instead of shrapnel.
It is possible that the fire was the result of a flare, although the audible blast and flash of light were very intense for that type of shell, which would simply land and potentially ignite a fire. Flares typically work by slowly burning through a pyrotechnic mixture to create a trail and are not usually explosive.
Other views of the boat give us more clues about the situation as it unfolded and the damage caused. A video of the aftermath showed fire damage and ash on the deck of the boat after the blaze broke out. The boat did not appear to be damaged by a payload beyond fire, which adds weight to the theory that the projectile was an incendiary device designed to release fuel and flames, not shrapnel.
It is difficult to confirm the source of the fireball without more detailed information or findings from an on-the-ground investigation into the incident. However, the videos and eyewitness accounts raise questions about the Tunisian authorities’ immediate analysis of the event just hours after the fire.
SOURCES
Instagram.com. (2017). Global Sumud Flotilla (@globalsumudflotilla) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] [Accessed 9 Sep. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: “I watched the “drone strike” video on the Global Sumud Flotilla frame by frame and it seems staged.” [Accessed 9 Sep. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: A "dragon drone" in the Kharkiv direction. [Accessed 9 Sep. 2025].
Youtube.com. (2025). Available at: Israel accused of using drones to drop incendiary bombs in Gaza | AJ#shorts [Accessed 9 Sep. 2025].
Al Jazeera. (2024). What are ‘dragon drones’, Ukraine’s latest weapon against Russia? [online] [Accessed 9 Sep. 2025].