Less than a week after a Free Gaza ship carrying humanitarian aid was seized by the Israelis before it could reach Gaza, a group of US citizens is in Egypt awaiting permission to enter the Gaza Strip with more aid.

At least 100 US activists, said to be carrying $1 million worth of medical supplies for the suffering Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, have been stranded on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing since Sunday, waiting for the Zionist regime to grant them permission to enter the besieged territory.

Last week, Israeli soldiers boarded the Free Gaza ship, the Spirit of Humanity, and forcibly took activists from half a dozen countries aboard the small ship to an Israeli prison.

The group of US citizens, who are with the Viva Palestina movement, is trying to enter the Gaza Strip via Rafah, reports said Tuesday.

Following the first British Viva Palestina convoy, which was allowed into Gaza in early October 2008, the group of US citizens - also led by British MP George Galloway - is attempting to deliver supplies and show their solidarity with the people of the closed-off coastal area.

In compliance with Israeli wishes, Egypt has enforced an iron blockade at its border crossings with the Gaza Strip, preventing the flow of humanitarian aid to its beleaguered 1.5 million inhabitants ever since they voted for Hamas in a democratic parliamentary election.

FTP/ZAP/HGL