TRIPOLI, Libya/ISTANBUL 

Activists traveling in the Gaza-bound Maghreb Resistance Convoy called Tuesday for an immediate end to Israel’s blockade of the enclave, urging Arab governments to speak out against the Israeli genocide against Palestinians.

The convoy -- made up of roughly 2,000 activists from Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania and Libya -- is part of a larger international campaign to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and raise pressure on Israel to lift the blockade.

It departed Tunisia’s capital on Monday, beginning a land journey toward the Gaza Strip to break Israel's siege of the Palestinian territory, and arrived in Libya on Tuesday.

It will spend the night in the Libyan city of Zawiya and is expected to continue east to Misrata before heading toward Egypt.

“This initiative was launched in coordination with other groups around the world working to break the blockade on Gaza by sea, air and land,” Haifa Mansura, a Tunisian activist and one of the convoy’s organizers, told Anadolu.

The convoy includes around 120 vehicles and 12 buses. Additional activists from nearly 50 countries are expected to join in Cairo, arriving by air to support the campaign.

Ahmed Abdulgani, a Libyan organizer, said the convoy also aims to deliver financial aid collected in Libya to Palestinians in Gaza.

“We’ve witnessed two years of the most horrific crimes in history,” Abdulgani said. “No Muslim — or even non-Muslim — can remain indifferent to this.”

Tunisian journalist and activist Fadiya Al-Husseini criticized the silence of Arab governments regarding the situation in Gaza.

“The main purpose of the convoy is the silence of the Arabs before the silence of Europe,” Al-Husseini said. “Where are the people of the Arab countries—those who should care more about the Palestinian issue than European societies do?”

Nabil Channoufi, one of the convoy’s spokespersons, said that whether the convoy will be allowed to enter Egypt remains unclear.

Channoufi said the group met with the Egyptian ambassador in Tunisia but received no definitive response.

“He didn’t give us a yes or no,” he said. “He told us he would pass the matter to the Egyptian government, which will decide whether we’re allowed to enter.”

Channoufi added that the convoy’s entry would be in Egypt’s interest and expressed hope that officials would support the group’s mission.