Egyptian Gaza Activists Defiant after Setback

After being humiliated by unsympathetic army officials while attempting to deliver aid to the besieged Gaza Strip, a group of bold Egyptian activists were today preparing for a defiant fight-back.

Several hundred volunteers from the Popular Committee to Support the Uprising of the Palestinian People left Cairo shortly after dawn on Friday, carrying medical aid destined for the besieged Gaza Strip.

The convoy claim that they had received earlier assurances from police officials that the convoy would be allowed to enter the area via the Rafah crossing - but the group was stopped at a checkpoint some 200km from their final destination.

Army officials threatened to detain activists unless they returned to Cairo CARRYING the aid destined for the Palestinian people.

However, today the group's organiser Salma Saeed said that the activists remained defiant in their attempts to highlight the quiet contempt of the Egyptian government for the plight of the Palestinian people.

She said, "It was kind of expected for me that we would be turned back. I was surprised that we were allowed to get so far - but it soon became clear that this was all part of an act. Now we're hoping to send the aid through by the end of the week."

The news comes as Gaza comes under the thirteenth day of bombardment from Israeli forces, with the death toll rising above 400 following the start of a brutal ground offensive on Thursday night.

Meanwhile Saeed claims the group plans to organise further action to support the Palestinian people from Cairo. She added, "There are many actions we can organise - from both a political and humanitarian point of view, and we intend to carry these out in the coming weeks."

The Egyptian Military sent food aid  to the strip last week. However many Palestinians took to social media to claim that some of the food had passed its' expiration date - a claim since denied by army officials.

The Israeli military released a statement last night, claiming that Hamas were now using journalists as so-called "human shields" and that they would not be held responsible for the death of any journalist killed by Israeli forces while attempting to cover the conflict.