Israel expels Palestinian girl from West Bank to Gaza without notifying her parents

Israeli authorities expelled a 14-year-old Palestinian girl from the occupied West Bank to the occupied Gaza Strip without even notifying her parents, it has emerged.

According to Israeli NGO HaMoked, the child, identified only as Ghada, was arrested by Israeli forces on 13 January for being in Jerusalem without a military-issued permit. At the time she was arrested, Ghada was returning home after visiting her aunt in Issawiya, part of occupied East Jerusalem.

Born in Ramallah, Ghada now lives with her family in Al-Ram, in the West Bank. Her father was born in the Gaza Strip, and, when Ghada was born, Israeli authorities listed her address as Gaza (Israel maintains control over a Population Registry for Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory).

After being detained, Ghada was taken for interrogation and then a remand hearing. Her parents were not present through any of this process. She was then woken at 5am on 15 January and told she would be released at Qalandiya checkpoint, a few minutes from her hometown.

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Instead, Israel Prison Service officers dropped her off, after dark, at Gaza’s Erez Crossing.

According to HaMoked, there are approximately 21,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank but whose addresses are listed as Gaza. Israel “refuses to update their address and considers them ‘illegal aliens’ unless they have a special military permit to live in the West Bank”.

Last year, 27 Palestinians in the West Bank were forcibly expelled to the Gaza Strip, according to official Israeli military data provided to HaMoked.