[1] The march planned to depart on 31 December from Izbet Abed Rabbo, an area devastated during Operation Cast Lead, and head towards Erez, the crossing point to Israel at the northern end of the Gaza Strip.
[3] The BDS movement stated that the march itself was “inspired by decades of nonviolent Palestinian resistance from the mass popular uprisings of the first Intifada to the West Bank villagers currently resisting the land grab of Israel’s annexationist wall.”[4] More than 1350 people from 42 countries around the world were planning to join Palestinians in the march, among them Medea Benjamin, Alice Walker, Ronnie Kasrils, Alima Boumediene-Thiery, Hedy Epstein, Yusif Barakat, Roger Waters, Starhawk, Louie Vitale, and Ann Wright.
Endorsers of the march included Howard Zinn, Gore Vidal, Arun Gandhi, Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky.
[11] Luisa Morgantini, Alima Boumediene-Thiery, Duraid Lahham and Walden Bello also planned to participate in the Gaza Freedom March.
[15] Other endorsing groups included American Friends Service Committee, Meta Peace Team, and Palestinian unions who all planned on meeting together in Cairo.
"[19] The Egyptian authorities went so far as to revoke permits for public gathering areas and force bus and shuttle companies to cancel previous contracts they had made with march organizers.
The aid, which included specialised medical equipment and powdered milk for babies, sat in Aqaba, a Jordanian port town, awaiting Egyptian permission to enter Egypt.
Once inside, the group was able to hold the nonviolent protest, which included a conference, chanting freedom songs, and all of the posters littered with “Free Gaza.