[News] Haftar's forces arrest Gaza aid convoy in Libya

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/haftars-forces-arrest-gaza-aid-convoy-libya>
Haftar's forces arrest Gaza aid convoy in Libya
Alex MacDonald
May 26, 2026
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Activists and doctors from Argentina, US, Italy, Spain and elsewhere
detained in city of Sirte
[image: Libyan army vehicles take part in the "Dara’ al-Karama 2" military
exercises under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, in the Ras
al-Alba region in southeastern Libya on May 16, 2026 (AFP)]

Libyan army vehicles take part in military exercises under the command of
Khalifa Haftar, in the Ras al-Alba region, southeastern Libya, 16 May 2026
(AFP)

Published date: 26 May 2026 16:10 BST | Last update: 1 hour 3 mins ago

Forces belonging to Libyan
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/libya>military
leader Khalifa Haftar have arrested a number of members of a Gaza
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine>aid convoy in the city
of Sirte.

According to a statement <https://www.instagram.com/p/DYw0huRGxyJ/>published
by the Global Sumud Convoy Instagram page, last contact with the activists
was made at 3.22pm on Tuesday.

"The detained are civilians from Spain, Poland, the USA
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us>, Argentina, Uruguay, Portugal,
Tunisia <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/tunisia>, and Italy -
doctors and human rights defenders who volunteered to deliver aid and stand
with the Palestinian people," said the statement.

They said the convoy had entered the 5+5 security zone - a contested area
established under the Libyan ceasefire agreement signed in October 2020 -
to negotiate safe passage to the Gaza Strip.

"They were detained by a security force affiliated with the Libyan Arab
Armed Forces (LAAF) and are still being held by Eastern Libyan authorities
(GNS)," they added.

The group urged citizens of the listed countries to contact their embassies
and demand their release.

A range of activist-led humanitarian missions have been sent to Gaza since
the beginning of the genocide in October 2023, with most being intercepted
at sea by Israeli forces.

A number have attempted to travel across land to the crossing at the
Egyptian border, though these have also faced numerous legal and security
obstacles.

Italian news agency Nova reported that Haftar’s forces had transferred the
two Italian nationals among the activists to Benghazi.

The two will be treated as “potential illegal migrants” by the authorities
in Benghazi, the report said.

“Libyan security authorities have not issued any clarification regarding
the reasons for the arrests or the legal status of the detainees," it added.

Libya has been largely divided since the Nato-backed overthrow of longtime
ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Eastern Libya is controlled by Haftar and his allies, and is backed by
the United
Arab Emirates <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/uae> and Egypt
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/egypt>, while a UN-backed
government in Tripoli governs the west of the country.
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