GENEVA/ISTANBUL

Swiss activists have left their country to attend the "Global March to Gaza."

The march will be attended by activists and health care workers from 54 countries to protest Israel’s ongoing genocidal war in the Gaza Strip.

Participants will gather in Egypt's capital Cairo on June 12 and travel to the Egyptian city of al-Arish.

From there, the protesters will march for three days to the Rafah border crossing and organize tent protests.

The protesters, who will stay at the Rafah border crossing for three days, will also hold a large rally to draw attention to the oppression suffered by all the people of Gaza.

The activists plan to end their action on June 20.

Swiss activist Samuel Crettenand, who set out to attend the march, told Anadolu that they had been thinking about taking action for a long time and that they decided to go to Egypt.

"Because it's the only way to access the people during this humanitarian crisis.

"It's a genocide and we tried ways to stop it and that was the best thing we could do at this point. What else can we do? We tried all we can and we have no better idea than this.

"But the movement is huge now and I think it will have a huge impact to let enter humanitarian aid in Gaza. If we will not succeed, the next one will achieve it," Crettenand said.

Noting that they will meet with activists from around the world in Cairo on June 12, he said they plan to go to al-Arish by bus in the morning of June 13 if the Egyptian authorities allow it.

Stressing that they are in contact with the ambassadors of many countries in Egypt, Crettenand noted that they do not have the green light right now, adding that they do not have a red light right now either.

"I think they (the Egyptian authorities) will help us. I think they have the same goal to let humanitarian help enter the Gaza Strip.

"We will be under the security of the Egyptian government, I'm sure," he added.

Emphasizing that he is "not scared at all," Crettenand said: "People in Gaza are suffering so much that we have to be thousands and thousands there to help them.

"We are coming to help them and we hope we achieve it."

'Our heart, our body, our soul' are with Palestinians

Raya, a Swiss activist of Palestinian origin, said that they go to Rafah for humanity and justice, expressing that through this initiative, they aim to awaken humanity.

Stressing that the Palestinians have been hoping for the end of Israeli oppression for a long time, Raya added: "So hope is always there and we hope that we can make it.

"We are all together and we are all, our heart, our body is with them, our soul is with them.

"And we hope we can make something for them to finally live like all human beings and rights."

The planned march comes as the genocide in Gaza is in its second year. Israeli military operations resumed on March 18 after the collapse of a ceasefire that had been in place since Jan. 19.

Since October 2023, the brutal offensive by the Israeli army has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

As Israel has continued to close all Gaza’s border crossings to humanitarian aid since early March, aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants.