Since the beginning of the second Intifada in late 2000, Israeli citizens and residents have been cut off from relatives living in the Gaza Strip. Israel employs a sweeping policy under which visits to the Gaza Strip are permitted in exceptional cases it defines as humanitarian.
Following a High Court of Justice petition filed by HaMoked, in 2004,
Israel introduced a protocol whereby during the holidays of Id al-Fitr, Id al-Adha and Christmas, Israelis against whom there is no security preclusion may enter Gaza to visit immediate relatives. Visitors may bring along their spouses and children under the age of 18.
However, after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel withdrew its undertaking and has prevented holiday visits, claiming the security situation makes them impossible.
On June 5, 2012,
HaMoked contacted the army, requesting it to once again allow Israeli citizens and residents to enter the Gaza Strip to visit relatives during Id al-Fitr, a holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. HaMoked stressed that the narrow criteria currently in use for allowing Israelis into the Gaza Strip (outside of holiday visits) were formulated in consideration of the fact that holiday visits occurred regularly. Therefore, the cancellation of the holiday visits constitutes a particularly severe violation of the right of Israeli citizens and residents to family life. HaMoked also argued that the army’s policy creates an impossible situation in which sons and daughters do not see their elderly parents, grandparents do not have a chance to meet their grandchildren and siblings suffering from serious or chronic diseases can only see each other when their conditions deteriorate to the point of requiring lengthy hospitalization.
HaMoked further added that even if concrete security reasons make it impossible to hold the visits on the holidays themselves, an alternative visit should be offered, as has been the case in the past, and family members must be given the opportunity to see each other. The complete absence of holiday visits is an unacceptable situation.
