A military aircraft left Israel on Thursday and hovered around Malta, The Times of Malta reports, saying that this happened hours before Gaza Freedom Flotilla said that it had been the subject of a drone attack.
It identified the aircraft as a C-130 Hercules, saying that its movement was reported by an online flight tracker ADS-B exchange.
The Times reports that it showed the Israeli aircraft hovering above Malta prior to making manoeuvres over Hurd’s Bank at around 5,000 feet, and says that around 7 hours later the plane returned to Israel, quoting flight-tracking data.
Questions have been sent to the Maltese government.
There is no confirmation of a link between the Israeli military plane and what happened to the Flotilla.
A ship belonging to the Gaza aid group Freedom Flotilla Coalition suffered a fire overnight in what the NGO had said was an armed drone attack in international waters just outside Malta’s territory.
The group said in a statement on its website that it had come “under direct attack in international waters.”
Maltese authorities said in a statement on Friday morning that a tugboat had responded to the emergency and that an Armed Forces of Malta vessel was also dispatched to the site.