Separately, a land convoy known as “Soumoud”, which had departed Tunisia carrying activists from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania, was stopped on Friday morning at the entrance to Sirte, a city in Libya under the control of forces loyal to military commander Khalifa Haftar.

An Egyptian official says more than three dozen activists, mostly carrying European passports, have been deported upon their arrival at the Cairo International Airport in the past two days.

Egyptian authorities have detained more activists planning to march to Gaza in protest of restrictions on aid reaching the territory.