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JERUSALEM: Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday called on Egypt to block two pro-Palestinian activist convoys planning to head to Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
“I expect the Egyptian authorities to prevent the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border and not to allow them to carry out provocations or attempt to enter Gaza,” Israel Katz said in a statement.
Katz added that such actions “would endanger the safety of (Israeli) soldiers and will not be allowed.”
His comments came as hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists on a Gaza-bound convoy arrived in the Libyan capital, driving eastward with the stated aim of breaking Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory.
The Soumoud convoy — meaning steadfastness in Arabic — left Tunis in buses and cars on Monday, hoping to pass through divided Libya and Egypt, which organizers say has yet to provide passage permits, to reach Gaza.
Egypt said on Wednesday that it backs efforts to put “pressure on Israel” to lift its blockade on Gaza, but added that any foreign delegations seeking to visit the border area must receive prior approval through official channels.
Egypt “asserts the importance of putting pressure on Israel to end the blockade on the (Gaza) Strip,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
It added that Egypt “will not consider any requests or respond to any invitations submitted outside the framework defined by the regulatory guidelines and the mechanisms followed in this regard.”
After 20 months of war, Israel is facing mounting international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza to alleviate widespread shortages of food and basic supplies.
The United Nations has said the Palestinian territory was “the hungriest place on Earth.”
Another activist group, the Global March to Gaza, which is coordinating with Soumoud, said it is organizing a separate mobilization starting in Cairo on Friday.
Organizers told AFP on Wednesday that around 4,000 participants are expected to join the march, adding they are not planning to enter Gaza.
According to the plan, activists would travel by bus to the city of Arish in northern Sinai before walking on foot for 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the Gaza border.
Participants would then camp near the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing for a few days and return to Cairo on June 19.
Catherine Le Scolan-Quere, spokesperson for the group’s French delegation, said that several French nationals who arrived in Egypt to take part in the event were detained in their hotels or upon arrival at Cairo airport.
“It was the Israelis who ordered the Egyptians to prevent this march from taking place in the Sinai,” she said.
Carolie Laghouati, a 39-year-old French nurse, said her friend along with nine others were detained by the Egyptian police at Cairo airport.
“We’re locked up here, they tell us not to leave, they don’t tell us what’s going on, our passports are confiscated,” said her friend in a video sent to AFP.