10,000-PERSON LAND CONVOY TO BREAK ISRAEL'S SIEGE

An aid convoy of about 10,000 Algerians, Egyptians, Libyans, Moroccans, Mauritanians and Tunisians left Tunisia on 9 June as it headed toward Gaza to break Israel's ongoing blockade. Organised by Tunisian civil society groups, the ‘Soumoud’ convoy, which means ‘steadfastness’ in Arabic, is transporting food, medicine and everyday supplies. It also has a political agenda: Defying what the organisers term the collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza.

Since October 2023, Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza, stripping it of electricity, water, fuel, and humanitarian aid. Israel’s onslaught and escalated siege have k*lled over 62,000 Palestinians, with the majority being women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The UN and international rights groups have repeatedly called for lifting the blockade and providing unbridled humanitarian access.

Convoy members include doctors, lawyers, students and human rights activists, who say they're stepping in where governments have failed. The convoy will attempt to access Rafah via Egypt, but no word yet on whether Egypt will allow entrance through its borders.

This convoy carrying a symbolic load of supplies for Gaza set off from Italy on the day Israeli forces seized a boat, the Madleen, of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC). It carried 12 activists, including Sweden's Greta Thunberg. While Israel released her and a few activists, the others remain in Israeli custody.

This is not the first go-around for activists trying to defy Israel's occupation. In early May 2024, Israel struck another Gaza-bound FFC boat containing supplies. In 2010, Israel had k*lled 10 activists attempting to transport 10,000 tonnes of aid to Gaza. In 1988, the night before the al-Awda ('The Return' in Arabic) was set to sail to an Israeli port to highlight the plight of Palestinian refugees, a bomb destroyed and sunk the ship in a Cyprus harbour, k*lling no one.

Video/image credits: @landpalestine (IG) & @pal.actions_tn (IG)