Manama: An aid convoy is setting out from Algeria towards Gaza, after the Guidance and Reform Society, the organisers of the humanitarian assistance, obtained the necessary permits from Egypt, Algeria media reported.
"The convoy will be in support of the Freedom Flotilla since its ships were the first to try to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip," Nasereddine Chaklal, the head of the Algerian delegation, said.
"The team will include doctors, journalists, religious figures, students and activists," he said, quoted by Algerian daily Echorouk.
Read special coverage: Sailing to Gaza
The convoy will buy the medical and humanitarian aid from Algeria and will transport it through the Rafah crossing.
"The Algerian team will fly to Egypt and will purchase the medical equipment and food stuff needed by the Palestinians from there," Nasereddine said.
Egyptian doctors will help the Algerian team with the list of the items to be transported to the Palestinians, he said.
"We will team up with the Egyptian Red Crescent to buy them and then we will drive into Gaza. We plan to meet families of martyrs killed by the Zionists and we will assess their needs," he said.
The 13-member delegation plans to spend three days in Gaza and has ruled out a forceful intervention by the Israelis to stop their work.
According to the activist, Algerian NGOs plan to send a second larger convoy with more humanitarian aid and medical supplies to express their solidarity with the Palestinians.
He said that the Egyptian embassy took four days to deliver the Rafah crossing permit to the Algerian activists.
The two countries last year were locked in a terrible standoff over a football match that decided the team that will represent the Arabs at the World Cup finals due to start on Friday in South Africa.
Algerian media said that 32 Algerians were on board of the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla when it was attacked by the Israelis in a lethal raid ten days ago. MP Mohammad Dhouibi, representing Ennahdha, was wounded in the attack and remained in Amman after his release to receive medical treatment.
Nine Turks, including one Turkish-American, activists were killed.
