Civilian convoy in overland bid to break past Israel blockade

With governments cracking down on pro-Palestine actions, a North African caravan aims to push through the siege.

Intissar Gassara at the Tunisia-Libya border

(Photo by Mahmud Turkia/AFP)

A self-funded convoy of lawyers, doctors, farmers, students and families is winding its way overland across North Africa, heading east from Tunis to Egypt’s Rafah border crossing. Their goal is to break Israel’s siege of Gaza. In the Caravan of Steadfastness are over 1,000 Tunisians and nearly 200 Algerians.

“We will be joined by our brothers and sisters from Libya, Morocco and Mauritania, a Maghreb-wide initiative,” Ghassan al-Hanshiri, a spokesperson for the group, told The Continent.

On the caravan’s path, crowds lined the streets in Tunisia’s M’saken, Sfax, Gabès, and Ben Guerdane. In Sfax, the Red Crescent set up health posts. In Gabès, people sang and offered food and fuel. When the convoy crossed into Libya on Tuesday, young people distributed water and dates. In Zawiya and Tripoli, local authorities and residents opened homes and municipal buildings to host the travellers and telecom providers handed out SIM cards. In Zuwara, residents helped refill their fuel tanks.

The festive welcomes mask the pain which motivated the caravan. “Inside the buses are more than backpacks and banners, there is grief, resolve, and the memory of every child killed in Gaza while the world watched,” said one member of the travelling group.

Despite nearly 55,000 dead Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, authorities across the region have cracked down on people who have rallied in solidarity with Gaza, or criticised Israel’s war.

On Thursday, the convoy was blocked by authorities in eastern Libya, forcing them to camp overnight in the desert in Sirte where they remained by Friday afternoon. Egypt’s foreign ministry put out a statement saying that any delegation seeking to approach Rafah needs visas, and to co-ordinate with authorities. Israel’s defence minister also said that if Egypt doesn’t block the convoy, the Israeli army will.

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This piece was published in collaboration with Egab