HaMoked has petitioned the High Court of Justice (HCJ) demanding that four minors who have been living on their own in the Gaza Strip for over four months be allowed to join their parents in the West Bank: The children’s mother is in Ramallah for medical treatment due to a serious condition, and their father works in the city and cannot return to the Gaza Strip due to danger to his life

On 23 January 2008 HaMoked petitioned the HCJ on behalf of four minor children, aged three to sixteen, who have been living in the Gaza Strip on their own since September 2007. HaMoked is demanding that the children receive entry permits to Israel in order to travel to their parents in Ramallah. The petitioners' parents moved to the Gaza Strip in 1994 after the father secured employment in the area in the Aviation Ministry of the Palestinian Authority. In January 2007 the father moved to Ramallah to take on a new position in the same ministry. Since then the mother filed several applications for entry permits to Israel for herself and her children in order to travel to the West Bank and visit the father. Surprisingly, one of the applications was rejected on the grounds of “incompatibility with the criteria.” Further requests went unanswered. 

The mother suffers from Behcet disease, a rare and complex inflammatory condition, and was also obliged to move to the West Bank in order to undergo medical treatment. She hoped that her requests to the District Coordination Office (DCO) in Gaza would be successful and her children would soon be able to join her, but this was not the case. 

Despite her confidence that the treatment would soon be completed, the mother’s condition failed to improve. She cannot now return to her children in the Gaza Strip. The children’s father is identified with Fatah and returning to the Gaza Strip would endanger his life. 

Due to the military’s refusal to permit the children to be reunited with their parents, the oldest son, aged sixteen, must now care for his younger sisters, the youngest of whom is just three. The children are facing severe distress, removed from their mother and father and living in the harsh conditions that are faced by all those in the Gaza Strip. They speak with their parents often over the telephone, crying and begging that they come to take them. 

HaMoked argues that the military’s behavior in this case fails to meet any acceptable standard. The military is violating the family’s right to a normal life together and failing to consider the good of the children. Acceptance of HaMoked’s petition is an urgent and obvious humanitarian need.