Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said he will join Italy in sending a military warship to protect an international flotilla seeking to deliver aid to Gaza after it was attacked by drones off Greece.

Mr Sanchez told a press conference in New York, where he has been attending the UN General Assembly, that the citizens of 45 countries were on board to deliver food to the population of Gaza and express solidarity with their suffering.

“The government of Spain insists that international law be respected and that the right of our citizens should be respected to sail through the Mediterranean in safe conditions,” he said.

“Tomorrow we will dispatch a naval vessel from Cartagena with all necessary resources in case it was necessary to assist the flotilla and carry out a rescue operation.”

Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto yesterday said he would send a navy frigate to assist the flotilla.

He expressed the “strongest condemnation” of the “attack” on the flotilla and said the navy vessel is en route to the area “for possible rescue operations”.

The Global Sumud Flotilla is using about 50 civilian boats to try to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, with many lawyers and activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.

The vessels were attacked by 12 drones in international waters 56 kilometres off the Greek island of Gavdos, said Marikaiti Stasinou, a spokesperson for March to Gaza Greece, which is part of the flotilla.

Ms Thunberg told Reuters on Monday that they had drones flying over them each night.

“This mission is about Gaza, it isn’t about us. And no risks that we could take could even come close to the risks the Palestinians are facing every day,” she said in a videocall from the ship.

Irish activist Sarah Clancy, who is part of the flotilla, said drones targeting their boats are an attempt to harass and intimidate them.

She said nine or ten boats in the flotilla were hit by projectiles that emitted smoke dropped from the drones.

The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) departed Barcelona on 31 August, with the aim of breaking Israel’s blockade of Gaza. It currently numbers 51 vessels, most of which are off the Greek island of Crete.

Israel has repeatedly criticised the flotilla for its implied support for Hamas, but made no comment on whether it was responsible for the drones.

It launched the war in Gaza in response to attacks on 7 October 2023 by Hamas militants, which killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, the conflict has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and has spread famine, destroyed most buildings and displaced the population, in many cases multiple times.

The Taoiseach is in Canada for a bilateral meeting with the Canadian Prime Minster Mark Carney.

The two leaders are expected to discuss trade, Ukraine and Gaza.

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada have cost Canadian exporters five billion dollars so far this year, and have soured relations between the two, as have President Trumps jibes about making Canada the 51st state.

Canadians have responded with informal boycotts of US goods.

The country is actively looking to make up those losses with expanded trade links elsewhere.

Exports to the EU have gone up 26% since Mr Trump returned to the White House.

Micheál Martin said Ireland will ratify the Canada Europe Trade Agreement in the Dáil in the coming months.

Its provisional application has already seen an increase in bilateral trade.

The wars in Ukraine and Gaza will also be discussed as Canada is a significant participant in international peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts.

The former US President Barack Obama will be awarded the Freedom of Dublin today.

Dublin City Council voted in 2017 to grant him the honour and he has decided to accept it while in Ireland for an event tomorrow.

Mr Obama will take part in what is being described as a small intimate ceremony in Dublin with Lord Mayor Ray McAdam and a number of councillors in attendance.

He will receive the award before being invited to sign the roll of honour.

When he invited Mr Obama last July, Mr McAdam said the Freedom of Dublin is “a rare distinction reserved for individuals whose leadership, service and values have made a profound and lasting contribution to the world”.

In recent days, he said Mr Obama’s presidency came at a transformative time and that his tone of political discourse and the reforms he introduced made him a fitting recipient for the Freedom of Dublin.

People Before Profit-Solidarity’s Group Leader on Dublin City Council Conor Reddy has refused his invitation to attend the event and encouraged Dubliners to take part in any protests that make take place around the ceremony.

Cllr Reddy said he believes Mr Obama is “not a symbol of peace or freedom but of US imperialism and war” and he said that “it is disgrace that Dublin’s Mansion House is being used to whitewash the legacy of a war criminal”.

He added: “To roll out the red carpet for him in Dublin, at a time when Palestinians are being slaughtered with US weapons, is shameful.”

Mr Obama is on Dublin ahead of an event in the 3Arena tomorrow where he will be in conversation with the Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole.

The sold-out event, with an audience of 7,500, follows a similar event in London last night.

A total of 88 people have previously been conferred with the Freedom of Dublin, the most recent being environmentalists Duncan Stewart and Greta Thunberg in June 2023.

Others include Nelson Mandela, John F Kennedy, Mikhail Gorbachev, George Bernard Shaw, U2, Brian O’Driscoll and Dr Tony Holohan.

In 2017, Bob Geldof returned his award in protest at the inclusion of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the roll of honour. Her name was also removed in 2017.

Privileges that come with the Freedom of Dublin

While no financial benefits are attached to the award, holders of the Honourary Freedom of Dublin have some ancient privileges and duties not applicable to ordinary citizens.

Ancient Privileges include:

The right to bring goods into Dublin through the city gates, without paying customs duties.

The right to pasture sheep on common ground within the city boundaries, including modern-day College Green (formerly Hoggen Green) and St Stephen’s Green.

The right to vote in municipal and parliamentary elections.

Ancient Duties include:

Each Freeman or Freewoman must be ready to defend the city from attack.

A Freeman or Freewoman can be called on to join a city militia at short notice.

According to a law passed in 1454, any merchant who becomes a Freeman or Freewoman must possess the following items:

A coat of mail
A bow
A light helmet
A sword of their own.

Freemen from the other trade guilds must have a bow, arrows and a sword.

A law passed in 1465 states that each Freeman or Freewoman has to provide themselves with a longbow (of their length) made of yew, witch-hazel or ash.

They must also have 12 arrows made of the same wood.