What is the ‘Global March to Gaza’?

‘We carry no weapons – only hope,’ read a statement from a group of 1,000 activists travelling to Gaza from the Northwest African region of Maghreb. ‘No hatred – only justice.’

The one-thousand strong group, known as the Sumud Convoy, began their journey in the Tunisian capital of Tunis. Once the group meets fellow activists in Cairo, they will travel to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and embark on a three-day march to the Rafah crossing to Gaza.

The activists remain determined, despite the knowledge that they will likely not be allowed to enter Gaza.

The point of their mission is to show that support for the Palestinian people is strong. and that doing nothing will only allow Israel to continue its genocidal actions until their goal of ethnically cleansing Gaza is complete.

‘The message people here want to send to the world is that even if you stop us by sea, or air, then we will come, by the thousands, by land,’ said Ben Mbarek. ‘We will literally cross deserts … to stop people from dying from hunger,’ she told Al Jazeera.

The first Biden State Department diplomat to publicly resign over Gaza policy, Hala Rharrit, plans to attend the march along with thousands of others who will walk from Cairo to the Rafah border.

‘Silence does not ensure that we will be OK,’ Rharrit said. ‘It’s quite the opposite. Silence ensures the injustice spreads.’

Since Israel began its war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, it has limited food and supplies entering the Palestinian enclave down to almost nothing. This has engineered a famine that has already killed thousands of Gazans, a figure that will climb without intervention.

On top of dealing with a lack of food, water, and medical supplies, Israel has continued carpet-bombed Gaza, killing at least 54,927 people (with tens of thousands still unaccounted for) and injuring more than 126,000 more.

Legal scholars have unanimously agreed that Israel is deliberately inflicting conditions to bring about the physical destruction of the Palestinian people, which amounts to the precise definition of genocide.

Global outrage has grown as Israel continues to kill civilians in thousands, including children, aid workers, medics and journalists.

From the end of March, Israel tightened its chokehold on Gaza, completely stopping aid and then shooting at people lining up for what little aid it allows in, leading to rare statements of condemnation – but little action – from Western governments.

This has compelled activists everywhere to try anything to get officials to listen.