More than 200 activists from the flotilla to the Gaza Strip, who organized an overland convoy in an effort to "break the blockade on the Strip," are stranded in Libya in territory controlled by Gen. Khalifa Haftar, and contact has now been lost with several of them.
"We have lost contact with a dozen activists who entered Libyan territory controlled by Haftar's authorities in the city of Sirte. The group, traveling with a car and an ambulance, was invited to negotiate the resumption of the land convoy. Among them are two Italians, a man from Puglia and a woman from Piedmont. According to the information we have so far, they may have been detained," flotilla spokeswoman Maria Elena Delia told Italian media outlets.
The flotilla's overland convoy, or the Global Sumud Convoy, intends to reach Gaza through Egypt while carrying humanitarian aid, and is currently in Libya. It numbers 200 people. Haftar's forces, which control eastern Libya and the major city of Benghazi, are manning a series of checkpoints along the road leading to the Egyptian border.
According to reports in the Italian media, the convoy remained parked for about a week outside Sirte while trying unsuccessfully to negotiate with the Libyan general's men. Despite failing to secure approval from the authorities, the activists continued along the roads with a convoy of seven ambulances and 10 aid trucks.
Large forces from Brigade 604, a force loyal to Haftar, blocked the road with snipers and machine guns, and only after negotiations were the activists, citizens of Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Greece, allowed to continue. Their fate has not been known since.
