The authorities in Egypt and Libya prevented activists seeking to break the blockade of Israel on Gaza, said the protest organizers, with reports of more detention and deportations.
“Forty participants in the World Marche in Gaza took their passports to a control point on the exit of Cairo,” the organizers of the World Marche in Gaza on Friday in a statement.
“They are detained in the heat and are not allowed to move,” they continued, adding that another “15 are detained in hotels”.
Activists are from France, Spain, Canada, Turkiye and the United Kingdom, he said, adding: “We are a peaceful movement and we comply with the Egyptian law.”
The group has urged embassies to help secure their release so that they can end their trip.
Activists arrived in Egypt this week for World Marche in Gaza, a basic initiative aimed at putting pressure on Israel to allow the delivery of aid and humanitarian supplies to the hungry population of Gaza.
The organizers said that participants in 80 countries were to start their march towards Rafah Crossing in Egypt with Gaza, with around 4,000 activists who should participate.
The demonstration by land was to coincide with other efforts of solidarity, including a boat with aid and activists who were intercepted by the Israeli army earlier this week when it was trying to reach Gaza.
Detents and deportations
According to the plans described by the organizers, the participants had to go by bus to El Arish, a city of the strongly secure peninsula of Sinai, before walking the 50 km (30 miles) in Rafah. The demonstrators intended to camp near the border before returning to Cairo on June 19.
However, Egyptian police arrested several groups of foreign nationals on the way, forcing vehicles to pull about 30 km (20 miles) from Ismailia, just outside the Sinai. Activists said the police had ordered passengers in unusual passports to disembark, blocking their visit to Rafah.
Paul Murphy, an independent Irish deputy, who went to Egypt to participate, said in an article on X: “We had our confiscated passports and are detained. It seems that the Egyptian authorities have decided to repress the great walk in Gaza. ”
Mo, a member of the Netherlands demonstration, said that his group had headed for Ismailia, but that a control point near the city was invited to hand over their passports, with only authorized Egyptians. He also described the riot police who came to open the road to demonstrators.
Now, in Cairo, the MO and the Netherlands group decide what to do next.
“We are trying to regroup,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune. “Many of our group is bursting, some have been beaten by the police … So they come back beaten and bruised and broken.”
“It seems that the Egyptian authorities are determined to prevent us from reaching anywhere near the border.”
Security sources have told the Reuters news agency that at least 88 people had been detained or expelled from Cairo airport and other places across the country.
Three airport sources told Reuters that at least 73 foreign nationals had been expelled during a flight to Istanbul for violating entrance protocols, with approximately 100 others waiting for deportation to the airport.
Managers of Cairo International Airport said that new guidelines had been issued to airlines demanding that all passengers going to Egypt between June 12 and 16 to contain confirmed return tickets, Reuters reported.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that any visit to the Rafah border area should be coordinated in advance with Egyptian embassies or official organizations, invoking security problems in Sinai.
The march organizers argue that they have coordinated the trip with the authorities and called on the government to release the detainees.
Blocked convoy in Libya
Separately, a terrestrial convoy known as “Soumoud”, which had left Tunisia carrying activists from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania, was arrested on Friday morning at the entrance to Sirte, a city of Libya under the control of the faithful forces to the Military Commander Khalifa Haftar.
“The caravan was prevented from going to the entrance to the city of Sirte,” said Tunisian organizer Wael Naouar in a video published on Facebook.
Naouar said the convoy needs Egyptian authorization to reach Gaza but had received mixed messages from local security officials. “Some have told us that we could cross in a few hours. Others insisted that” Egypt denied (passage) and therefore you will not pass “,” he said.
Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the soldiers to prevent demonstrators from entering Egypt, saying that the people involved were “jihadist demonstrators”.
“I expect the Egyptian authorities to prevent them from reaching the Egyptian-Israeli border and not allowing them to make provocations and try to enter Gaza,” he added.
It then happens that Israel continues its incessant air strikes in Gaza, while seriously restricting the flow of aid, including food, water and medical supplies, while humanitarian experts warn that the enclave could fall into large -scale famine unless Israel raises the blockade.