Egypt Blocks Gaza March From Cairo, Detains Global March Activists and Expels Over 70

A pro-Palestinian caravan that left Tunis aiming to symbolically break the Israeli blockade was stopped in Libya on Friday, June 13, organizers said, while another group taking part in an international march from Cairo toward Gaza was stopped at the Cairo exit.

Le Monde reported that about forty participants of Global March were held about 45 km east of Cairo with a ban on moving and passports confiscated, and that about fifteen were being held in their hotels in Cairo.

Al-Quds al-Arabi

Le Figaro said the caravan was prevented from passing at the entrance to the city of Sirte, in the center-north of the country, and that it remained dependent on an Egyptian green light to pass into Egypt and continue toward the Gaza Strip.

Euronews said Egypt blocked activists planning to participate in a march to Gaza on Thursday, preventing them from reaching the border and challenging Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid, and that authorities expelled more than 70 activists on arrival at Cairo International Airport over the past two days.

In the same reporting, Euronews said the protesters had been planning for months to walk about fifty kilometers from the city of Arish to the Egyptian border with Gaza on Sunday to create international moral and media pressure for the opening of the Rafah crossing and the lifting of the blockade.

In Libya, El País reported that the activists of the Gaza aid caravan detained near Sirte began a hunger strike, saying the 10 detainees had not eaten or drunk anything for five days.

El País added that the Global Sumud Flotilla issued an urgent life-or-death appeal for the release of the volunteers and said, "Their health is deteriorating rapidly," while also reporting that the other activists not detained had already begun returning to their home countries.

El País

In Cairo, Le Monde said the Global March participants told organizers they were a "peaceful movement" and said they respect Egyptian law, while calling on diplomatic representations to intervene to allow the march to continue.

Le Monde also described how an initial attempt to gather on Talaat Al-Harb Square in central Cairo was blocked by a heavy police deployment, resulting in an arrest, AFP observed on the ground.

Euronews reported that the pressure was now on the militants' countries of origin, which fear their citizens will be detained, and quoted a French diplomatic official saying France was in "close contact" with the Egyptian authorities regarding French nationals refused entry or detained.

Separately from the land caravans, بوابة الوسط reported that Israel deported two activists, Saif Abu Kashk and Thiago Avila, after intercepting the Global Flotilla for Resilience last week in international waters near Crete.

“The 10 activists who were taking part in the caravan to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip by land and who were detained on May 24 while attempting to cross eastern Libya have not eaten or drunk anything for five days”

El País

بوابة الوسط said the flotilla comprises 22 boats carrying about 175 activists, and that aside from Abu Kashk and Avila, all flotilla activists were taken to Crete where they were released.

The same source said Israel's Foreign Ministry stated that the relevant agencies had completed their investigations and that Israel will not tolerate any breach of the legal maritime blockade imposed on Gaza, while Adalah's lawyer Hadil Abu-Saleh said the detention was a symbolic measure with no legal basis.

In a different thread of the Gaza aid effort, El País reported that the caravan consisted of people from more than 20 countries and that the last communication with the small group detained occurred on May 24 at 15:22, when one participant sent a message that they were being transported in three unmarked white vans.

El País also said the organizers described the detainees as held in an isolated civilian prison complex run by the Interior Ministry and denounced that Libyan authorities denied external medical attention, while warning that "A dry hunger strike can be deadly quickly" without immediate intervention.