TUNIS, Tunisia: A convoy of buses and private cars departed for Gaza from Tunisia’s capital Monday as part of efforts to spotlight Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid to the territory, even as Israeli authorities stopped a high-profile flotilla from landing there.
The overland effort — organized independently but moved up to coincide with the flotilla — 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 their aim is 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.
After a 2½-month blockade of Gaza aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing in some basic aid last month. 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.
The convoy set off as the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an aid ship that set sail from Sicily earlier this month, was seized by Israeli forces in what activists said were international waters. Those aboard, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, were detained.
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 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.
Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s population.
The convoy plans to gather supporters in towns south of Tunis before crossing into Libya, where clashes between rival militias have turned deadlier in recent months. Organizers said they planned the land crossings with relevant authorities leading up to the convoy’s departure.
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A convoy sets off for Gaza from North Africa to protest Israel’s blockade
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A convoy sets off for Gaza from North Africa to protest Israel’s blockade
- The Tunisian civil society groups behind the convoy said their aim is to demand “the immediate lifting of the unjust siege on the strip”
Israel expands Lebanon strikes, killing 11
- Israel expanded its air strikes in Lebanon on Wednesday, targeting the area around the presidential palace near Beirut and other areas south of the capital
BEIRUT: Israel expanded its air strikes in Lebanon on Wednesday, targeting the area around the presidential palace near Beirut and other areas south of the capital as well as strongholds of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, killing at least 11 people.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on Monday when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes over the weekend.
An air strike hit a hotel in Hazmieh on Wednesday, the first reported Israeli attack on the predominantly Christian area in Beirut’s suburbs near the presidential palace and several embassies.
Some rooms were gutted in the strike, while wounded people received treatment in the lobby, AFP images showed.
People also fled through debris carrying suitcases past the Comfort Hotel’s sign, which had fallen broken to the ground. It was not possible to determine who was targeted in the attack.
The southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, were targeted again on Wednesday morning, following an evacuation order from Israel’s military.
Smoke rose over the densely populated area, where some residents fled when the violence erupted.
In Aramoun and Saadiyat south of Beirut — two towns outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds — the health ministry said Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded eight others. It cautioned that this was a “preliminary toll.”
AFP footage from Aramoun showed damaged cars and rescue workers carrying a wounded person on a stretcher.
Strikes also targeted a four-story building in the city of Baalbek, in Lebanon’s east far from the border where Hezbollah also has a strong presence.
Five people were killed, 15 were wounded and three remain missing, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
One side of the building collapsed. AFP correspondents saw rescue workers searching through the rubble for survivors.
- Ground incursion -
The Israeli military called on people to “immediately” leave 13 towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Wednesday morning ahead of strikes against Hezbollah, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
A similar evacuation warning had earlier been issued for 16 other southern towns and villages.
Hezbollah carried out a series of strikes against Israel on Tuesday, claiming to have targeted sites including the northern Haifa naval base in retaliation for Israeli strikes in southern Beirut.
Since Monday, Israeli strikes have killed at least 50 people and wounded 335 in Lebanon, the health ministry said before the overnight strikes.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said three paramedics were killed and six injured “while recovering people injured by explosions” in Lebanon’s southern Tyre district.
“Warring parties must abide by international humanitarian law and protect health workers, facilities and patients,” he said on X.
Lebanese authorities on Monday recorded the displacement of more than 58,000 people from areas targeted by strikes.
The Israeli military has said it will continue to strike Hezbollah until the Lebanese group disarms.
Israeli forces also launched a ground incursion on Tuesday, advancing into a border area in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese army source told AFP.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on Monday when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes over the weekend.
An air strike hit a hotel in Hazmieh on Wednesday, the first reported Israeli attack on the predominantly Christian area in Beirut’s suburbs near the presidential palace and several embassies.
Some rooms were gutted in the strike, while wounded people received treatment in the lobby, AFP images showed.
People also fled through debris carrying suitcases past the Comfort Hotel’s sign, which had fallen broken to the ground. It was not possible to determine who was targeted in the attack.
The southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, were targeted again on Wednesday morning, following an evacuation order from Israel’s military.
Smoke rose over the densely populated area, where some residents fled when the violence erupted.
In Aramoun and Saadiyat south of Beirut — two towns outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds — the health ministry said Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded eight others. It cautioned that this was a “preliminary toll.”
AFP footage from Aramoun showed damaged cars and rescue workers carrying a wounded person on a stretcher.
Strikes also targeted a four-story building in the city of Baalbek, in Lebanon’s east far from the border where Hezbollah also has a strong presence.
Five people were killed, 15 were wounded and three remain missing, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
One side of the building collapsed. AFP correspondents saw rescue workers searching through the rubble for survivors.
- Ground incursion -
The Israeli military called on people to “immediately” leave 13 towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Wednesday morning ahead of strikes against Hezbollah, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
A similar evacuation warning had earlier been issued for 16 other southern towns and villages.
Hezbollah carried out a series of strikes against Israel on Tuesday, claiming to have targeted sites including the northern Haifa naval base in retaliation for Israeli strikes in southern Beirut.
Since Monday, Israeli strikes have killed at least 50 people and wounded 335 in Lebanon, the health ministry said before the overnight strikes.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said three paramedics were killed and six injured “while recovering people injured by explosions” in Lebanon’s southern Tyre district.
“Warring parties must abide by international humanitarian law and protect health workers, facilities and patients,” he said on X.
Lebanese authorities on Monday recorded the displacement of more than 58,000 people from areas targeted by strikes.
The Israeli military has said it will continue to strike Hezbollah until the Lebanese group disarms.
Israeli forces also launched a ground incursion on Tuesday, advancing into a border area in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese army source told AFP.
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