CAIRO
A humanitarian aid convoy started moving toward Egypt's northeastern border with the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian capital Cairo early on Thursday.
The convoy is made of five shipments of medical supplies to the value of $321,000, according to one of its organizers.
"The convoy is supervised by three medical doctors and four political activists from the independent Public Campaign for the Support of the Palestinian People," Zizou Abdou told Anadolu Agency.
The convoy set out on the way to the border with the Gaza Strip from downtown Cairo.
A humanitarian aid convoy organized by the same campaign was prevented by the authorities from reaching the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
Abdou said the contents of this convoy would be sent to the Palestinian enclave by the Arab Medical Union later.
In preventing the convoy from reaching Gaza on Saturday, the authorities said they were afraid for the safety of accompanying activists, while the security situation in Egypt's northeastern Sinai Peninsula, on the border with the Gaza Strip, was not stable.
Rashwan Saaban, one of the medical doctors supervising Thursday's convoy, said the medical supplies would be handed to the Egyptian Red Crescent at the Rafah crossing on the border with Gaza so that it can deliver it to the Palestinians later.
Other Egyptian agencies, including the Arab Medical Association, are also planning to send humanitarian aid convoys to Gaza.
Since July 7, Israel has pummeled the Gaza Strip with fierce air and naval bombardments with the ostensible aim of halting Palestinian rocket fire.
Last week, Israel stepped up its offensive to include ground operations, sending thousands of troops into the embattled coastal enclave.
Israel's offensive has left at least 718 Palestinians dead – mostly civilians.
Israel's operation "Protective Edge" is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populated strip – home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.
In 2008/9, over 1500 Palestinians were killed – the vast majority of them civilians – during Israel's three-week-long "Operation Cast Lead."
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