AN international aid convoy is expected to arrive in Gaza tomorrow. The Viva Palestina convoy of nearly 200 vehicles including ambulances and vans had been stranded in the Jordanian port of Aqaba after campaigners said they were refused permission to sai

AN international aid convoy is expected to arrive in Gaza tomorrow.

The Viva Palestina convoy of nearly 200 vehicles including ambulances and vans had been stranded in the Jordanian port of Aqaba after campaigners said they were refused permission to sail to the port of Nuweiba by the Egyptian authorities.

The group went on hunger strike last week in protest. But the convoy now hopes to reach Gaza tomorrow after its members decided to retrace their route back through Jordan and Syria. The vehicles and cargo were instead loaded on to a ferry in the Syrian port of Latakia last Saturday and have now docked and cleared customs at the Egyptian port of El Arish. Convoy members will fly to El Arish today from Latakia to pick up the vehicles and drive less than one hundred miles to Egypt s Rafah border crossing with Gaza . They hope to reach Gaza tomorrow.

Convoy organiser, of George Galloway's Respect Party, Kevin Ovenden, said: 'Despite all the difficulties, by land, by sea and by air, we are within 24 hours of breaking the siege of Gaza."

The convoy organised by Viva Palestina and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign are taking aid in including specialised medical equipment and will be leaving all its vehicles in Gaza .

It had hoped to enter the Gaza Strip on December 27 to mark the first anniversary of the day Israel began its three-week land, air and sea attack on Gaza.

The convoy left London at the beginning of December.