Following HaMoked's petition, the Erez District Coordination Office decided to permit an Israeli resident to visit her ailing, elderly father in the Gaza Strip: Despite his grave condition the petitioner was allotted only three days for the visit

On 16 April 2009, the petitioner, a resident of Ramla, applied for a permit to enter the Gaza Strip for her and her four-year-old son, in order to visit her elderly father who was hospitalized in serious condition after having collapsed from a stroke.

Only a few months prior, the petitioner applied for a permit to enter Gaza in order to visit her dying mother for the last time. The military ignored the urgent nature of the application, the mother died, and her daughter was denied the opportunity to bid her goodbye.

In this instance too, despite the urgency of the application and its evident humanitarian nature, the military did not provide the petitioner with any substantive response, except for a laconic notice by the authorized officials stating that the application was being processed - and even this response was only obtained following repeated appeals by HaMoked in writing and by telephone.

In light of the army's disregard, on 7 May 2009, HaMoked petitioned the HCJ in the matter. In the petition, HaMoked stressed that the military's conduct towards the petitioner is especially severe: not only is the army violating its obligations to act swiftly in order to provide a response the petitioner's humanitarian application and stop infringing on her rights to freedom of movement and family life; indeed, in this case the grievance is twofold, since the military's neglect and contemptuous attitude have recently forced the petitioner to pay a grim personal price. On 11 May 2009, following the submission of the petition, the military announced that it would permit the petitioner and her son to visit Gaza, for three days only.

To view the petition dated 7 May 2009