Tunisia activists launch overland Gaza-bound bus convoy to ‘break the siege’

A convoy of buses and private cars departed for Gaza from Tunisia’s capital Monday, seeking to “break the siege” on the Palestinian territory, activists said.

The overland effort — organized independently but moved up to coincide with the high-profile maritime flotilla that was seized by the Israeli Navy Monday — is made up of activists, lawyers, and medical professionals from North Africa. It plans to traverse Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt before reaching Rafah, the border crossing with Egypt that has remained largely closed since Israel’s military took control of the Gaza side in May 2024.

The Tunisian civil society groups behind the convoy said they aim to demand “the immediate lifting of the unjust siege on the Strip.” They asserted that Arab governments haven’t pushed enough to end the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas. The war was sparked by the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people and abducted 251; 55 hostages are still held in Gaza, 20 of them believed to be alive.

Organizers said they were not bringing aid into Gaza, but rather aimed at carrying out a “symbolic act” by breaking the blockade on the territory, tightened by Israel since the Hamas invasion and slaughter.

After a two-and-a-half-month blockade of Gaza aimed at pressuring Hamas into releasing the hostages and relinquishing power, Israel started allowing in some basic aid last month, while a US- and Israeli-backed aid group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began separately distributing aid from three sites. Experts, however, have warned of famine in the territory of over 2 million people unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive, though previous assessments were found to have been exaggerated and based on flawed data.

The convoy set off as the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an aid ship that set sail from Sicily earlier this month, was intercepted by Israeli forces after being repeatedly warned not to approach Gaza and towed into Ashdod port. Those aboard, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, were detained ahead of deportation.

The overland convoy drew widespread attention in Tunisia and Algeria, where it began Sunday, with some people waving Palestinian flags and chanting in support of the people of Gaza.

“This convoy speaks directly to our people in Gaza and says, ‘You are not alone. We share your pain and suffering,'” Yahia Sarri, one of the convoy’s Algerian organizers, wrote on social media.

The “Soumoud” convoy, meaning “steadfastness” in Arabic, includes doctors and aims to arrive in Rafah “by the end of the week,” activist Jawaher Channa told AFP.

It is set to pass through Libya and Egypt, although Cairo has yet to provide passage permits, she added.

“We are about a thousand people, and we will have more join us along the way,” said Channa, spokeswoman of the Tunisian Coordination of Joint Action for Palestine, the group organizing the caravan.

“Egypt has not yet given us permission to cross its borders, but we will see what happens when we get there,” she said.

Channa said the convoy was not set to face issues crossing Libya, “whose people have historically supported the Palestinian cause,” despite recent deadly clashes in the country that remains divided between two governments.

The North African activists do not expect their convoy to be allowed into Gaza. Regardless, it provides “a message of challenge and will,” said Saher al-Masri, a Tunis-based Palestinian activist.