200 pro-Palestinian activists detained

• 16 of the dead were waiting to collect aid at a distribution point
• Internet down in Gaza after attack on fibre optic cable
• UNGA to vote to demand immediate ceasefire

Egyptian authorities have detained more than 200 pro-Palestinian activists in Cairo ahead of a planned international march with the stated aim of breaking Israel's blockade on Gaza, the organisers said yesterday.

"Over 200 participants were detained at Cairo airport or questioned at hotels across Cairo," the march's spokesperson Saif Abukeshek told AFP, adding that those detained included nationals from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Morocco and Algeria.

The activists had planned to travel to Egypt's Rafah border crossing with Gaza, to demand the entry of humanitarian aid and an end to Israel's blockade on the besieged enclave.

An Egyptian official told The Associated Press that authorities had deported more than three dozen activists, most of whom held European passports, on arrival at Cairo International Airport in the past two days.

Meanwhile, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 22 people across the Palestinian territory yesterday, including 16 who were waiting to collect aid.

The distribution of food and basic supplies in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip has become increasingly fraught and perilous, exacerbating the territory's deep hunger crisis.

Civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP that the Al-Awda Hospital received 10 dead and around 200 wounded, including women and children, "after Israeli drones dropped multiple bombs on gatherings of civilians near an aid distribution point around the Netzarim checkpoint in central Gaza".

He said that Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital received six dead following Israeli attacks on aid queues near Netzarim and in the Al-Sudaniya area in northwestern Gaza.

Mughayyir said another six people were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza.

The US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) accused Palestinian group Hamas of attacking aid workers en route to a distribution centre on Wednesday, saying at least five people were killed.

In Gaza, the Palestinian Authority said internet and fixed-line communication services were down yesterday following an attack on the territory's last fibre optic cable it blamed on Israel.

The United Nations General Assembly was set to vote yesterday on a draft resolution that demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza after the United States vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council last week, reports Reuters.

The 193-member General Assembly is likely to adopt the text with overwhelming support, diplomats say, despite Israel lobbying countries this week against taking part in what it called a "politically-motivated, counter-productive charade."

General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry weight as a reflection of the global view on the war. Previous demands by the body for an end to the war between Israel and Hamas have been ignored. Unlike the UN Security Council, no country has a veto in the General Assembly.

Yesterday's vote also comes ahead of a UN conference next week that aims to reinvigorate an international push for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. The United States has urged countries not to attend.