Egypt detains over 200 activists ahead of Gaza aid march: organisers

CAIRO: Egyptian authorities have detained more than 200 pro-Palestinian activists in Cairo ahead of an international march aiming to break Israel´s blockade on Gaza, organisers said on Thursday.

Thousands of people taking part in the Global March to Gaza planned to travel to Egypt´s Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian territory on Friday to call for increased humanitarian aid access.

“Over 200 participants were detained at Cairo airport or questioned at hotels across Cairo,” the march´s spokesperson, Saif Abukeshek, told AFP.The detainees included people from Algeria, Australia, France, Morocco, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States, he said.

Plainclothes officers entered Cairo hotels on Wednesday with lists of names, questioning activists, and in some cases, confiscating phones and searching personal belongings, said Abukeshek.

“After interrogations, some were arrested and others were released.”At Cairo airport, some detainees were held for hours without explanation, Abukeshek said, adding others were deported, without specifying how many.

More than 20 French activists who had planned to join the march were held at Cairo airport for 18 hours, he said.“What happened was completely unexpected,” Abukeshek said.Footage shared with AFP showed dozens of people with their luggage crammed inside a holding room at the airport.

“We´re locked up here in this room with so many people -- some 30-40 people,” a German national said in one video.Meanwhile, Gaza´s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 22 people across the Palestinian territory on Thursday, including 16 who were waiting to collect aid.The distribution of food and basic supplies in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip has become increasingly fraught and perilous, exacerbating the territory´s deep hunger crisis.