On January 21, 2010, HaMoked appealed to the Gaza District Coordination Office (DCO), on behalf of a resident of East Jerusalem, to allow her entry into the Gaza Strip to visit her elderly widowed mother, who suffered a stroke and has since experienced difficulties with movement and speech. The petitioner, herself blind from birth, is utterly dependent on her own daughter and never leaves home without her. To enable the visit to materialize, HaMoked requested permits for the daughter-companion and for her four children, ages 5 to 11, who are in her care.
The DCO allowed the blind woman's entry to Gaza, for three days, with only her daughter along, emphasizing that the daughter-companion's entry was allowed "exceptionally and with no added company". The DCO's reply provided no explanation or justification as to why the companion's young children cannot join the trip, and why the case does not fall under the rule that allows entry of children along with their parents and prevents the separation of a mother and her children. HaMoked reapplied to the Gaza DCO, stressing the significance of permitting the children to enter with their mother, noting that the father of the family is unable to care for the children, as he works away from home most hours of the day. Disallowing the children to enter Gaza with their mother, in effect, prevents her from escorting her mother, and makes the visit defunct. In addition, previously in a similar case, when the blind woman’s entry into the Gaza Strip was allowed, her daughter and her children accompanied her.
The Israeli policy regarding the entry of Israelis into the Gaza Strip, formulated in response
to HaMoked's petition on issues of principle, sets threshold requirements for entry: an exceptional humanitarian necessity (wedding, engagement, severe illness, funeral, etc.) and the absence of a security preclusion. Only when both conditions are met, entry into Gaza may be allowed to first degree relatives of a resident of Gaza. In addition, if issued with a permit, a person is allowed to take along first degree relatives who are under 18 years of age.
On February 16, 2010, HaMoked filed an
urgent petition to the High Court of Justice. The legal foundation for the petition was the right to freedom of movement and to family life. The petition also puts forth that although it approved the petitioners' entry into Gaza, Israel effectively prevents them from materializing the visit; thus it is violating their rights, without sense, and contrary to its own procedures.
In response to the petition, the state made only general statements, to the effect that denying the children’s entry was due to "the need to balance various interests", security concerns uppermost. In addition, the state claimed that the case might set a precedent and affect the policy targeted at restricting Israelis' entry into Gaza.
Due to the urgency of the circumstances and the need for a swift resolution, HaMoked, in concert with the petitioner, made a further attempt, offering the state attorney's office a practical compromise such that despite entailed difficulties, the two older children would remain in Israel, and that the mother would only take the two younger children, ages 5 and 7, on her trip to Gaza. The state refused this proposition also.
In the hearing, the justices criticized the state's position. In reference to the claim that the permit issued to the daughter-companion constitutes, in and of itself, a gesture by the state towards the petitioners, the justice asked the attorney whether " it should be denied only because it is an expansion?; should a person be satisfied with whatever is given him and not request any further?
Is this an act of pedagogy aimed at the petitioners?" At the end of the hearing, the justices ordered the state to reconsider its position once more, "with a willing spirit", and update the court within a week.
On June 7, 2010,
the state declared that in view of the court’s remarks in the hearing, it was decided to permit the daughter-petitioner's two younger children entry, on the visit to Gaza.
