The government of Gibraltar, a British Crown dependency with autonomous governance, has denied that the Israeli vessel INS Komemiut entered its territorial waters while transiting the Strait of Gibraltar from the United States towards the port of Haifa in Israel.
In a clarification received by Assahifa, the Government of Gibraltar said that "The Israeli vessel INS Komemiyut did not enter Gibraltar’s port or British Gibraltar Territorial Waters at any point. The vessel did not receive any fuel or provisions from Gibraltar”, noting that "HM Government of Gibraltar wishes to clarify the information published by the Moroccan media outlet Assahifa in English and in Arabic".
This clarification came after Assahifa published a report in its Arabic and English editions about the possibility of the Israeli vessel docking at the Gibraltar military port, given that Britain is considered one of Israel's closest allies in the region. Sources told Assahifa that "such vessels often do not need to enter any port for refueling or provisioning, as private companies conduct this operation in international waters, which suggests that the Israeli ship may have done so".
According to research conducted by Assahifa on the Israeli vessels's route through the strait, the docking of the INS Komemiut at the Tanger Med port remains speculation and a hypothesis with no precise data to confirm it, and there is no independent official source to support it, leaving all possibilities open.
The Israeli newspaper Globes" had published a report stating that the INS Komemiut docked at the Tanger Med port for refueling and provisioning, which was denied by two sources who spoke to Assahifa, especially since the Israeli ship had turned off its transponders, which determine its location, raising questions about how the Israeli newspaper knew the xessels's location after its signals disappeared.
