ISRAEL ONLY ALLOWS UNDER EIGHT-AGE CHILDREN TO VISIT GAZA PRISONERS

Gaza City, 27 Jumadil Akhir 1434/6 May 2013 (MINA) – An International Committee for the Red Cross official said on Monday (6/5) that Israel allowed children from Gaza to visit their relatives in Israeli prison for the first time in weeks.

“The Israeli side allows children under the age of 8 to visit their relatives in jail,” Nasser Al-najjar from the committee said, as Ma’an reported monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

al-Najjar said that 61 families from the Gaza Strip, including seven children headed to the Beit Hanoun pedestrian crossing into Israel ahead of their visit to relatives in the Nafha prison.

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Al-Najjar said the ICRC welcomed the move and expressed hope for continued reform to allow Gaza detainees prisoner visits.

Last Monday Israel put a halt to prison visits for Palestinians prisoners from Gaza in response to rocket fire from the coastal enclave, the Palestinian Authority liaison office said.

In March, Israeli authorities informed the ICRC that residents of Gaza would not be allowed to visit their relatives jailed in Israel for three weeks due to Jewish holidays.

Israel banned visits to all prisoners from Gaza in 2007 to pressure Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was freed in Oct. 2011.

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In July, Israel agreed to resume family visits for Gaza prisoners as part of a deal to end a mass month-long hunger strike in Israeli jails. (T/P09?P03)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)