Tunis: Officials and activists from professional and civil society organisations announced at a press conference on Wednesday that a humanitarian medical convoy will leave Tunisia for Gaza by road after Eid al-Fitr, carrying dozens of doctors, nurses and supplies. Participants in the convoy are awaiting visas to enter Egyptian territory from the Egyptian authorities to determine the final date of departure. The head of the orthopaedic department at Bougatfa Hospital in Bizerte, Mohamed Amine Bennour, said the convoy would leave in mid-April. It will consist of private vehicles led by a truck carrying medical supplies. It will make several stops from Tunisia and Libya into Egyptian territory to reach the Rafah border crossing, carrying Tunisian, Libyan and Egyptian volunteers, in particular surgeons, obstetricians, anaesthetists and nurses. The convoy will also include supporters from the political, cultural, media, content industries and others to provide medical, material and moral support to the people of Gaza, Bennour added. He pointed out that the organisers have applied twice to the Egyptian embassy in Tunisia for visas to enter Egyptian territory and will apply a third time, and that they hope to receive the approval of the Egyptian authorities as soon as possible. President of the Tunisian Bar Association, Hatem Maziou, said the convoy, which is "open to all", would provide medical, material and moral support to the Palestinian people in Gaza. The lawyers' participation comes in the context of solidarity and support for the Palestinian people and includes filing complaints in international courts against Israel, which is committing crimes against humanity and genocide. For his part, the President of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists, Ziad Dabbar, stressed the importance of the success of this convoy, given the damage to hospitals and the lack of medical supplies in Gaza. He said that the union was in contact with the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate and the Palestinian Journalists' Syndica te to facilitate the arrival of this trip to Gaza in terms of transit procedures. The press conference was attended by representatives of several associations and other organisations, including the Young Lawyers Association, the Tunisian League for Human Rights and the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT). Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse