Agencies-Gaza post
Closing the Erez crossing with Gaza deters families from visiting their sons in Israeli jails
The Ramallah office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday stated in a press statement that the visit of the families of detainees from the Gaza Strip, which was planned for today to Eshel prison in Beersheba in southern Israel, had been canceled due to the Israeli extension of the Beit Hanoun/Erez crossing closing, which is the only pedestrian crossing between Gaza and Israel.
The latest closure was charged last week as a collective punishment approach against the Gaza Strip’s two million Palestinian residents, already living under total siege since 2005.
The Red Cross reported that it will update the families on new times for the visits after the reopening of the crossing.
Israel had banned visits for Gaza families to their sons in the Israeli jails in March 2020 due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and renewed the visits in March of this year.
Same visits by families in Jenin, Nablus, and Hebron regions in the occupied West Bank were also canceled this week due to a closure charged on the West Bank and collective punishment policy, especially against Palestinian citizens of the Jenin region.
