Egypt detains pro-Palestine international activists after protest against Israel's war on Gaza

The Egyptian authorities detained four international activists on Thursday after they had protested peacefully outside the foreign ministry in downtown Cairo against the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, taking them to an unidentified place.

US prominent Gaza solidary activist John Parker, also a candidate for California's 37th congressional district, along with three others, an Argentinian, an Australian, and a French, have been taken inside the ministry's premises at noon as they attempted to hand in a statement to officially request to join the  Global Conscience Convoy, intended to deliver humanitarian aid and relief efforts for Gaza.

"All contact with the four activists was later lost, and their location became unknown for long hours. On Friday, Egyptian volunteer lawyers learned they were present at the local Bulaq police station near the ministry in downtown Cairo," an Egyptian activist told The New Arab on condition of anonymity, fearing for their safety.   

The four foreign nationals belong to an international pro-Palestine group fighting for the rights of the Palestinians to have their own state as well as resist all attempts to ethnically cleanse the Gaza residents.

The legal status or the possible charges facing the four activists remain unclear till the time of publication as the lawyers have been unable to have access to their clients.

The launch of the Global Conscience Convoy, primarily scheduled to leave Cairo towards the Rafah border crossing in the once resistive province North Sinai last Friday, 24 November, for Gaza, had been indefinitely postponed after the Egyptian authorities reportedly hampered the initiative.

The convoy is a global call initiated earlier this month by the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate to end the war on Gaza, open the border indefinitely, and allow journalists to enter the blockaded enclave.

Last week, 15 Egyptian parties, NGOs, and rights groups jointly called on the Egyptian government to allow the convoy to cross into Gaza.

More than one million Palestinians have been displaced in Gaza since Israel began its air and ground assault on 7 October, while over 14,000 people have been killed in the onslaught.