“Caravan of Steadfastness” Reaches Libya, Urges Egypt to Allow Passage to Besieged Gaza

Watan-The “Caravan of Steadfastness to Break the Siege on Gaza” reached the outskirts of the Libyan city of Misrata on Thursday and issued an appeal to Egyptian authorities to facilitate its passage toward the city of Rafah, adjacent to the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been committing acts of genocide for the past 20 months.

Spokesperson for the North African popular convoy, Nabil al-Shanoufi, stated:“We are now on the outskirts of Misrata and will continue on to the cities of Sirte, Bani Walid, and then Benghazi in eastern Libya.”

He added that “the convoy received a warm welcome at the entrance to Misrata, reflecting the immense generosity of our Libyan brothers.”

Al-Shanoufi noted that “Mauritanians joined the convoy today (Thursday), and we already have participants from Morocco, making the convoy truly a Maghreb-wide initiative.”

The convoy is headed toward the Egyptian city of Arish, hoping to be granted access to the Rafah border crossing, the only non-Israeli-controlled gateway into the besieged Gaza Strip.

Regarding coordination efforts, al-Shanoufi stated:“We have contacted the Egyptian embassy in Tunisia multiple times and provided them with the list of participants during our meeting with His Excellency the Egyptian Ambassador to Tunisia, Bassem Hassan.”

He continued:“During our meeting, we clearly explained the convoy’s humanitarian goals and expressed our willingness to comply with any requirements the Egyptian side may have.”

Al-Shanoufi emphasized:“We are fully prepared to respond to any requests from Egypt to facilitate our entry to Rafah.”

He concluded:“We ask the Egyptian state to understand the true nature of our convoy and grant us the necessary access, just as the Tunisian authorities welcomed the Algerian delegation and as the Libyan authorities facilitated our passage.”