Algeria's legendary nationalist Djamila Bouhired will arrive in the Gaza Strip on March 8 to participate in celebrations of the International Women's Day.

"Bouhired will arrive in Gaza next week, heading a delegation of 80 Arab and foreign activists to celebrate the International Women's Day," Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ghazi Hamad told Anadolu Agency on Saturday.

It is not yet clear whether the delegation would cross into Gaza via Egypt's Rafah crossing or the Erez terminal on border with Israel.

Bouhired is an outstanding Algerian resistance figure who was instrumental in resisting the French occupation of her country in the last century.

The Gaza Strip has been reeling under an eight-year Israeli blockade.

Foreign delegations visiting the strip to show solidarity with the besieged Palestinians have drastically dropped following the July 3 ouster of Egypt's elected president Mohamed Morsi by the military, according to the Gaza Foreign Ministry.

Egyptian authorities have tightened their control over the border with Gaza, repeatedly closing the Rafah crossing, which represents Gaza's only window to the outside world.

The Egyptian army has also launched a campaign aimed at destroying the network of tunnels linking Gaza to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, which in recent years had been used to bring vital commodities into the besieged coastal enclave, home to nearly 2 million Palestinians.

Hamas, an ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, the group which propelled Morsi to power in the 2012 elections, has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007.

By Mustafa Haboosh

englishnews@aa.com.tr