Thousands of activists from 32 countries are marching toward Gaza’s Rafah crossing to demand an end to Israel’s blockade and ongoing assault on the Strip.

Pro-Palestine Convoy Begins March to Rafah,
Demanding a Total End to the Siege of Gaza
The New Arab Staff

(June 9, 2025) — An international solidarity march for Gaza set off for the Rafah border crossing on Sunday as part of a campaign to end Israel’s blockade on the enclave and demand a halt to the ongoing war.

Thousands of participants from 32 countries are taking part in the campaign seeking to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid and show global support for Palestinians in Gaza, who are enduring what legal experts and rights groups have described as a genocide.

The convoys will gather in Cairo on Thursday before heading to the border city of Arish in northeastern Egypt.

From there, participants plan to march on foot to the Rafah crossing, where protest tents will be set up, according to organisers from the Global March to Gaza coalition. It is unclear whether Egyptian authorities, who remain highly suspicious of demonstrations, will permit the march to proceed.

The coalition includes representatives from most European, North and South American countries, as well as several Arab and Asian states, in a show of global mobilisation around the Palestinian cause.

Among the first to depart was the Algerian ‘Caravan of Steadfastness’, which left Algiers on Sunday en route to Tunisia to join the Tunisian convoy, before continuing through Libya and Egypt toward Rafah.

“The caravan has set off toward Tunisia and will join with others on the journey to Gaza through Rafah,” Yahya Saree, head of the Algerian Initiative to Support Palestine and Aid Gaza, said in a statement.

Saree, a senior member of the Algerian Association of Muslim Scholars, emphasised the humanitarian nature of the initiative, saying it sought to raise the voice of the free world to break the “brutal siege” on Gaza.

He described the move as an expression of Algeria’s longstanding support for Palestine and its calls on international platforms to protect civilians from Israel’s assault.

Since May 2024, Israeli forces have seized and closed the Rafah crossing, blocking all entry and exit, including humanitarian aid and medical evacuations.

Saree said the convoy is part of a wider international mobilisation, by land, sea, and air, against the crimes being committed in Gaza.

“To our people in Gaza, we say: You are not alone. This is the least we can do to bring your voice to the world,” he said, calling the caravan a symbolic expression of the growing global will to hold Israel accountable.

In Morocco, Abdelhafid Sriti of the National Action Group for Palestine told Anadolu Agency that participants would fly to Cairo and then proceed by land to Rafah.

“The goal is to pressure the occupation to open the crossings and stop the genocide,” he said. “Since October 7, Moroccans have taken to the streets in support of the Palestinian resistance and people — and we will continue.”

He warned that Israel’s siege, carried out with US support, had caused famine and disease in Gaza.

“What is happening is an unprecedented crime,” he said, urging urgent international action to stop the assault and allow humanitarian aid in.

Egypt has significantly increased its military presence in the Sinai and is highly sensitive to any breach at the border. Cairo has explicitly stated it would not allow unauthorised crossings, and has historically prevented marches or convoys from crossing into Gaza.

The march comes as Israeli forces forcibly intercepted the Madleen ship, which was sailing towards Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC).

The campaigners said Israeli forces had “unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted, and its life-saving cargo — including baby formula, food and medical supplies—confiscated”, according to an FFC statement.

The Madleen was carrying 12 activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and Irish actor Liam Cunningham.

A previous aid ship, Al-Damir, operated by the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza, was struck by an Israeli drone on 2 May, causing a fire on board.

Since 7 October 2023, Israel, backed by the United States, has waged a war on Gaza marked by mass killings, starvation, displacement, and widespread destruction, defying repeated international calls and rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to end its campaign.