Thousands head to Egypt in bid to break Israel's Gaza blockade

CNN

2 days ago

Thousands of activists from around the world are expected to descend on Egypt on Thursday for a 'Global March to Gaza,' a movement aiming to break the Israeli blockade that has pushed the territory to the brink of famine.
Some 4,000 volunteers from over 80 countries will join the protest, according to organizers. They will land in Cairo, take buses to the city of Arish in northern Sinai, and then march around 30 miles through the desert peninsula to the Egyptian side of the Gaza border at Rafah. Organizers told CNN the activists will sleep in tents along the route and are expected to arrive at the border on Friday but do not plan to enter the war-ravaged enclave.
The march puts Egypt in an awkward position as it tries to balance its ties with Israel and the United States against its public condemnation of the war's brutal toll on Gaza's civilians. A key mediator with direct channels to both Hamas and Israel, Cairo has been wary of the conflict spilling over into its territory. It has kept its side of the Rafah crossing closed to Palestinians, even as anger at Israel's actions continues to rise at home.
In a statement Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he expects the Egyptian government 'to prevent the arrival of jihadist demonstrators to the border of Egypt-Israel and not to allow them to carry out provocations and to try to enter into Gaza.'
This will 'endanger the security of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers and we will not allow it,' Katz added.
The international activists will be joined by another convoy of 2,000 protesters arriving from Tunisia. That group arrived in Libya, which neighbors Egypt, on Wednesday, organizers said.
Among those joining the march are Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, a former South African lawmaker and grandson of Nelson Mandela, and Hala Rharrit, a former US State Department diplomat who resigned from her US government position during the Biden administration over Washington's handling of the Gaza war.
'This is just another tool, another way (for) the people to raise their voices, to let governments know that we are not happy,' Uzma Usmani, the sponsorship and logistics lead for the UK delegation of the march, told CNN. 'We need to take things into our own hands, to raise awareness, to put pressure on all the different governments so that they start taking action,' she said.
As Israel's war in Gaza enters its 21st month, high-profile international campaigners are becoming increasingly active in their attempt to break the siege.
On Monday, Israel intercepted a Gaza-bound aid ship, the 'Madleen,' detaining its passengers and taking them to Israel.
Among the activists on board was Swedish climate and human rights activist Greta Thunberg and French member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan. Thunberg departed Israel on Tuesday and Hassan remains in Israeli detention.
Israel imposed a full humanitarian blockade of Gaza on March 2, cutting off food, medical supplies and other aid to the more than 2 million Palestinians in the territory for 11 weeks.
Faced with growing international pressure, it began allowing a trickle of aid in late May. But humanitarian organizations say it is only a fraction of the aid that entered the enclave before the war.
Organizers of the Global March to Gaza have said that they have reached out to Egyptian authorities, informing them of their plans and asking for cooperation and protection but have received no response.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement that activists must obtain permits ahead of their arrival in Cairo.
'Egypt stresses the importance of adhering to these established regulatory measures to ensure the safety of visiting delegations due to the sensitive security conditions in this border area since the onset of the crisis in Gaza,' the ministry said, adding that 'that no requests or invitations will be considered or responded to if submitted outside the framework specified by the regulatory provisions.'
Organizers said they followed 'all the required protocols detailed in this statement.'
They told CNN on Wednesday that some activists have experienced harassment and been detained upon arriving in the Egyptian capital, saying they fear deportation.
On Thursday, organizers said 170 people are currently facing delays and deportations at Cairo airport, but that thousands of participants are already in Egypt and are determined to continue their march.
CNN has reached out to the Egyptian foreign media press center and the foreign ministry for comment on those allegations.
Rharrit, the former State Department official, told CNN: 'Children are starving to death, and at this point, the only thing I feel I can do is action.'
'Now is no longer the time for talk only. We need action, and we saw that with the ('Madleen') flotilla,' she told CNN's Becky Anderson this week. 'This is humanity saying no more, let the food in.'
Egyptian authorities 'have no reason not to support this march,' Rharrit said, adding that delegations across the world had informed Egyptian embassies of their plan well ahead of time.
'There have been meetings with Egyptian ambassadors. Egyptian authorities have not said no,' she said, adding that the march is 'in line with everything Egypt has been trying to do diplomatically.'
CNN's Oren Liebermann contributed reporting.