CAIRO, (PIC)-- Mohamed Akef, the leader of the Muslim brotherhood, on Tuesday called on the Egyptian people to participate in relief convoys from all governorates to the besieged Gaza Strip, stressing the importance of participating in peaceful protests and pickets in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people.

During a press conference held by national and political forces in Egypt, Akef stated that he invites all Egyptian political parties to participate in the convoys to be organized in a timely fashion.

For his part, Dr. Mohamed Habib, the first deputy head of the Muslim brotherhood, criticized the inflammatory campaign which the PA leadership waged against the brotherhood in Egypt in an attempt to bypass its role in tightening the siege on Gaza.

Dr. Habib refuted the PA accusations against the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt of seeking to pressure the Egyptian regime in order to help Hamas, saying that the siege is not only imposed on Hamas but on all Palestinian citizens in Gaza which moves the conscience of every free human being in Egypt. He noted that the Egyptian national forces are not less keen on lifting the siege on Gaza.

In a related context, about 3,000 Egyptian students from the Zagazig university participated Tuesday in a peaceful protest in solidarity with the Gaza people, where they expressed their outrage at the Egyptian and Arab silence towards the suffocating Israeli siege imposed on Gaza.

More than 10,000 Egyptian students from the Azhar university affiliated with the Muslim brotherhood organized Tuesday evening a massive rally in protest at the ongoing Israeli siege on Gaza and the closure of the Rafah border crossing.

The students called in a statement on the Arab and Islamic decision-makers to intervene to open the Rafah crossing constantly and the other crossings in order to break the siege on Gaza.

The students carried banners condemning the Egyptian authorities for providing Israel with gas while the Gaza people die of cold and poverty.

In a statement received by the PIC, Yemeni scholars and intellectuals called on the Arab and Islamic governments to take urgent steps to end the Israeli aggression and siege on Gaza.

The statement stressed the need to establish an Arab and Islamic charity fund to finance the project of linking Gaza with the Egyptian electricity network and paying its power consumption.

The statement called on the Yemeni government to direct all official mass media to carry out a campaign highlighting the catastrophic effects of the Israeli aggression and siege on Gaza. The statement also urged the government to invite an emergency Arab summit to take and implement decisive resolutions breaking the siege on Gaza.