A convoy of 1,500 grassroots activists from North Africa departed the Tunisian capital on Monday in a coordinated public effort to protest Israel’s 20-month military campaign in Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

The Maghreb “Sumud” Aid Convoy — meaning “resilience” in Arabic — consists of 119 vehicles carrying politicians, religious scholars and activists from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania. The caravan entered Libya on Tuesday, greeted in Tripoli by cheering crowds waving Palestinian flags.

Organizers say the convoy aims not only to deliver aid but to demonstrate cross-border solidarity with Palestinians suffering under Israel’s blockade and military assault.

“The convoy will express solidarity with the Palestinian people under siege and deliver humanitarian aid to them,” the organization said in a statement. “Participants in the convoy will head to the Ras Jedir crossing on the Tunisian-Libyan border, and travel along the Libyan coastal road to Cairo, then to the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian-Palestinian border, to deliver messages of solidarity and aid to the Palestinians in Gaza.”

The group managed to enter Libya after passing through numerous security checkpoints. However, Egyptian officials have yet to announce whether or not they will allow the convoy to continue through Sinai and into the Rafah border crossing, which has been closed off by Israel since March 18 when it broke the latest ceasefire with Hamas.

The initiative is being led by civil society groups from across the region and is widely seen as a grassroots effort to bring awareness to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

"This is a civil and popular initiative in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza," said Wael Naouar, a member of the Tunisian Coordination for Joint Action for Palestine (TCJAP), which helped lead the effort alongside the Algerian Association of Muslim Scholars (AAMS) and other civil society groups.

Religious leaders involved in the convoy have emphasized the mission’s moral significance.

"This is a message to the people of Gaza: You are not alone," Sheikh Yahya Sari, a member of the AAMS, wrote in a Facebook post. “We share your pain, and this is a form of public pressure against the occupier in the face of international failure to stop the massacres.”

Volunteers from over 80 countries join The Global March on Gaza

The convoy is part of a broader wave of civilian-led missions seeking to reach Gaza and spotlight what activists describe as global inaction in the face of immense suffering.

The biggest initiative is the Global March on Gaza, composed of activists from over 80 countries banding together to demand an end to Israel's war in the Palestinian enclave.

Many volunteers from Muslim-majority countries will be participating, accord to the initiative's website.

Organizers of the March said they aim to land in Cairo on Thursday, after which they will ask Egyptian authorities to enter Rafah.

Among those involved is Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela, the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela, a staunch supporter of Palestinian rights.

Despite the international scope of these civilian-led efforts, on Monday, the Israeli military intercepted the first of these endeavors, the British-flagged Madleen aid flotilla in international waters. The ship carried 12 activists, including Swedish climate advocate Greta Thunberg and French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan.

Although Israel has permitted limited humanitarian access to Gaza in recent weeks, 163 Palestinians have reportedly been killed by the Israeli military while trying to reach aid centers operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF), an organization backed by the United States and Israel.

On Tuesday, the Gaza Health Ministry said that 36 Palestinians were killed near a GHF distribution site in Rafah. Eyewitnesses told media outlets that Israeli tanks opened fire on desperate crowds seeking aid.

Humanitarian groups and UN officials have condemned the GHF’s operations, alleging violations of international aid protocols and accusing the group of failing to ensure safe access to supplies.

Since October 2023, Israel’s military assault has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians and injured over 127,000 others in Gaza, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.