Irish activists traversing Egypt to reach start of major March to Gaza protest
IRISH ACTIVISTS ARE among thousands of participants starting to walk in the Global March to Gaza today, which has seen large numbers travel to Egypt to hold demonstrations at its border with Palestine.
Participants who have arrived in Cairo will travel by bus to the Egyptian city of Al Arish in the north of the Sinai peninsula, where they will begin a 48km march to the Egyptian side of the Gaza border near Rafah.
Organisers say their goal is 'absolutely not' to try to forcibly enter Gaza but to try to negotiate the opening of the Rafah terminal with Egyptian authorities to deliver humanitarian aid.
However, Egypt has been creating hurdles for the movement, detaining more than 200 activists who had arrived in Cairo to attend the march.
The world's leaders don't and won't act to end the starvation and slaughter of the Palestinian people.
So people from around the world are coming together to march from
#Cairo
to
#Rafah
, starting today, to break Israel's blockade of Gaza and to
#FreePalestine
!
https://t.co/FqJWvhn0Sk
— Global March To Gaza (@globalmarchgaza)
June 13, 2025
Several dozen Irish activists are among the thousands who have travelled to Egypt for the March, including People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who arrived in Cairo last night and is travelling to the start point of the march.
'We're on the way,' Murphy said this morning, speaking to
The Journal
.
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He said that it is 'still not entirely clear whether we'll be prevented from marching by the Egyptian authorities or not, but for now we're making progress towards Rafah'.
Murphy said that the focus of the movement is on 'lifting the unbelievable starvation of the Palestinian people' which has 'half a million people on the verge of starvation' as a result of Israel blocking Gaza's access to food, water and medical supplies.
Murphy said there are 'thousands of us here from 57 countries and about 50 people from Ireland' who are 'all united in horror at the genocide being inflicted on the Palestinians'.
'We want to do whatever we can to pressure Israel to stop and also to put pressure on our own governments to stop their complicity and to act instead of just giving words.'
A spokesperson for the march said yesterday that more than 200 participants had been detained at Cairo airport or questioned at hotels in the city.
The spokesperson, Saif Abukeshek, said that plainclothes officers entered hotels in Cairo with lists of names, questioned activists, and in some cases confiscated phones and searched through personal belongings.
Some were released while others were arrested, detained for hours or deported.
Israel has pressured Egyptian authorities to prevent participants from reaching the border with Gaza.
Participants in the Global March to Gaza are aiming to arrive at the border on Sunday and camp there before returning to Cairo by next Thursday.
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