Update: Only two doctors to be allowed into Gaza with aid

The second aid convoy organized by the Popular Committee to Support the Uprising of the Palestinian People is on its way to Gaza after the military finally allowed organizers to pass Qantara checkpoint, committee general coordinator Tarek al-Awady said. 

According to April 6 Youth Movement leader Zizo Abdu, only two doctors will be allowed to accompany the convoy to Gaza, while the rest of the delegation will have to return to Cairo.

A delegation of activists with the convoy was initially denied passage through the Qantara checkpoint, despite getting approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Health, the Customs Authority and General Intelligence, Awady said. But the convoy organizers managed to pass after getting permission from Military Intelligence in Ismailia.

Abdu also stated that Military Intelligence approval was issued following “communication” between high-profile political figures and leaders of the Second Field Army to let the convoy pass.

The convoy of aid to Gaza is carrying more than LE2 million worth of medical supplies, the popular committee said in an official statement.

“This is not a charity campaign, it is a campaign to support the Palestinian people who are part of our national security. We are and we will continue to support the Palestinian cause,” said human rights lawyer Khaled Ali.

The convoy organizers hope to counter strong local media rhetoric against Palestinians, particularly Hamas’ leadership of Gaza.

“The medical supplies we collected are an obligation and not a favor to the Palestinian people. We continue to support the Palestinian people in spite of being fought by Egyptian media and despite the lack of support from the government for the campaign,” said Tarek al-Awady, legal advisor for the campaign.

Meanwhile, campaign members are not sure whether the supplies they have collected will be allowed entry to Gaza from Egypt in the wake of the closure of all crossings.

“We are expecting that the new convoy will not pass as well. It might go all the way to the Rafah crossing, only to be circumvented there,” said Hasaballah Kafrawy, a member of the coordinating committee of the convoy.

An earlier convoy of aid attempted to reach the border town of Rafah on Saturday, alongside a delegation of activists, however it was turned away at the Balouza checkpoint in North Sinai. Activists were told at the checkpoint that the military had no way of securing the convoy amidst ongoing militant activity in the Sinai Peninsula.

The convoy was a message of solidarity and not solely an act of charity, activists said.

Those who took part in the first convoy were critical of the authorities for preventing the aid from reaching Rafah. Activist Mostafa al-Naggar questioned the military’s concerns regarding the security of the delegation. “There were military cars loaded with soldiers, motorcycles and masked men,” Naggar wrote on his Facebook page, referring to the security that accompanied the convoy after it had crossed the Suez Canal.

“Why did the police and Armed Forces let us go 300 kilometres from Cairo to North Sinai when they had decided not to let any convoys pass and why didn’t they inform us of their rejection at the first checkpoint in Ismailia?” he added.

In a statement, journalist Tamer Abu Arab, who also took part in the first convoy, said that no one at the Balouza checkpoint was in support of the supplies going through. “The colonel [at the checkpoint] refused to receive the supplies, and he asked us to leave them somewhere in Ismailia until they looked into how to deliver them, which was not convincing for anyone,” Arab said. 

In response, activists staged a protest at the Balouza checkpoint chanting for Gaza and against the military. In Cairo, the delegation was slammed by the media for attacking the military when they could have left the aid and returned on the orders of the Armed Forces.

The first convoy was made up of 11 vehicles, accompanied by more than 500 people carrying medical supplies to the embattled Palestinian strip.

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has reached more than 600, the majority of whom are civilians, while 29 Israeli soldiers have died so far since Operation Protective Edge started on July 8.