On June 15, 2014, shortly following reports on the abduction of three Israelis, Israel stopped all visits by family members from the Occupied Palestinian Territories to their loved ones imprisoned inside Israel. The state's responses to HaMoked's petitions indicate that the visits have been suspended indefinitely and a date for their renewal has not been set.
HaMoked appealed to the military's legal advisor for the West Bank, alerting him that the longer the suspension of visits, the greater the concern that this was not a measure for operative needs but an act of collective punishment against the prisoners and tens of thousands of their relatives from the West bank and the Gaza Strip.
On July 2, 2014, as no response arrived, HaMoked sent a
pre-petition letter to the State Attorney's Office, demanding the immediate renewal of family visits. HaMoked stressed that the cessation of visits is a draconian measure that violates the basic rights of prisoners and their relatives, primarily their right to family life.
