As much of the world focused on Israel’s bombing of Qatar, a separate but possibly connected violation of national sovereignty was happening 2,600 miles west in Tunisia. There, a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid came under alleged attack twice in twenty-four hours from what they say was a drone. The response from Tunisian authorities has been confusing: after its interior ministry first insisted the drone claim had “no basis in truth” and that a fire had instead been started by one of the crew members themselves, it now says that what it calls “the attack” was a result of “premeditated aggression” that it will investigate and reveal the culprit behind.

The roughly twenty boats that are part of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) aid effort are the latest attempt to break Israel’s brutal siege in Gaza, which has created an artificial famine in the territory and already killed hundreds of Palestinians from starvation in August alone, about a third of them children. Previous efforts to bring desperately needed food and other aid to Gaza, including baby formula, have been intercepted and seized by the Israeli military, as part of what Israeli leaders themselves openly characterize as a “starve or surrender” strategy that aims to leave Gaza “wiped out” and punish and drive out Palestinian civilians.

It remains to be seen whether the GSF will again be blocked from their humanitarian mission by Israeli forces and what methods they may use to do so — as well as whether the alleged drone attacks were an early warning shot.