Foreign Ministry cancels meeting with organizers of Gaza aid convoy

The Foreign Ministry canceled a meeting scheduled for Tuesday with representatives of a campaign of doctors and public figures who were arranging the delivery of a medical and food aid convoy to Gaza. 

The ministry did not offer an alternative date.

The campaign group includes hundreds of doctors and public figures who mobilized two weeks ago to deliver aid into the Gaza Strip, and put an end to Israel’s “war of starvation” on Palestinians, former Doctors Syndicate secretary general Mona Mina, one of the coordinators of the aid convoy, told Mada Masr.

The campaign messaged the ministry to request a meeting to coordinate allowing the convoy to reach the Rafah crossing, which the ministry agreed to at first but ultimately canceled a day before its scheduled date, she said.

According to Mina, the campaign began on February 27 with a letter she and former Health Minister Amr Helmy sent to the Foreign Ministry. The letter requested permission for a convoy of volunteers who wish to bring essential aid into Gaza that has accumulated on the Egyptian side of the border due to the Occupation’s “war of starvation” on Palestinians. 

Israel has repeatedly obstructed aid deliveries via Rafah, bombing the crossing facility several times in the first weeks of its aggression and introducing cumbersome regulations which have debilitated the smooth and necessary flow of aid from entering the strip. The Foreign Ministry criticized this obstruction on multiple occasions. 

The campaign representatives also called on the ministry to facilitate the volunteers’ task by providing media coverage of the convoy and allowing international public figures to participate in solidarity with the Palestinian cause, Mina said.

Initially, campaigners collected around 250 signatures from Egyptian doctors and public figures wishing to volunteer, ultimately gaining thousands after it was published on Facebook and Change.org, she noted.

Mina explained that the campaign aimed to launch the convoy on March 8, to precede the start of Ramadan. The ministry’s response, however, did not arrive until March 7. A communication officer at the ministry called Mina to say representatives of the campaign could meet with the director of the ministry’s Department of Palestine Affairs on March 14.

As the campaign prepared for the meeting, another call came on March 10 informing the campaign that the date had been moved forward to today, March 12, according to Mina. However, just a day before, Mina received a text message saying that the appointment was postponed due to the director needing to travel for an emergency mission, without specifying another date for the meeting.

In addition to trying to get another date to coordinate with the Foreign Ministry, Mina confirmed that the campaign will continue to mobilize supporters with the aim of delivering delayed aid to the Gaza Strip.