Egyptian authorities detained at least 200 activists, halted a planned activists’ march to Gaza, preventing participants from reaching the border to protest Israel’s unlawful blockade of humanitarian aid before the demonstration could begin.
To draw attention to the humanitarian crisis afflicting people in Gaza, marchers have for months planned to trek 30 miles (48 kilometers) across the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt's border with the enclave on Sunday to "create international moral and media pressure” to open the crossing at Rafah and lift a blockade that has prevented aid from entering.
Authorities have deported more than three dozen activists, mostly carrying European passports, upon their arrival at the Cairo International Airport in the past two days, an Egyptian official said Thursday. The official said the activists aimed to travel to Northern Sinai "without obtaining required authorizations.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief the media.
Egypt has publicly denounced the restrictions on aid entering Gaza and repeatedly called for an end to the war. It has said that the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing remains open, but access to the strip has been blocked since Israel seized the Palestinian side of the border as part of its war with Hamas that began in October 2023.
