GAZA, (PIC)-- The Egyptian authorities on Friday refused, without giving reasons, to allow an Algerian aid convoy into the Gaza Strip.
An informed source told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the authorities in Egypt did not allow 16 Algerians including three lawmakers, national figures and dignitaries to enter Gaza with their humanitarian aid.
According to the source, the authorities told the delegation that they can allow the three lawmakers to pass into Gaza without the aid, the thing which was rejected by the Algerian delegation.
The source said that the participants in the convoy were outraged by the obstacles placed by Egypt, especially as this visit was coordinated through the Algerian embassy and was already approved by the Egyptian side.
In another incident, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, spoke by phone on Friday with the organizers of the Egyptian grassroots convoy and told them that his Movement welcomes them anytime in Gaza.
These remarks came following rumors saying that the Palestinian government in Gaza refused to receive the convoy.
For its part, the Palestinian government headed by premier Ismail Haneyya denied in a press statement to the PIC on the same day that it refused the entry of the Egyptian convoy and affirmed that it is ready to receive it anytime.
Spokesman for the government Taher Al-Nunu said that the government in Gaza is always ready round-the-clock to receive any convoy coming to break the blockade on Gaza.
About 500 Egyptian citizens arrived in the Egyptian side of Rafah crossing and failed to enter Gaza, while some media outlets rumored that the Palestinian side was not ready to receive them.
The Egyptian authorities are still persistent in impeding the flow of aid convoys into Gaza, not allowing in any humanitarian aid and imposing tight restrictions on the entry of activists.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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