Israel bans Gaza families from visiting detainees

Israeli authorities have announced a temporary suspension of all family visits from Gaza to Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons beginning today.

Abd Al-Nasser Farawneh, head of the Prisoners’ Affairs Committee in the Gaza Strip, said that Israeli authorities informed the Ministry of Detainees of the decision adding that this was said to be due to urgent technical reasons.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is in charge of coordinating with Israeli authorities to arrange family visits for Palestinian prisoners.

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Palestinians face my difficulties in obtaining permits from occupation forces to visit their detained family members and have to undertake long trips to see their loved ones, with checks and waiting times when crossing Israeli checkpoints and at the prison.

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, Palestinians are entitled to family visits, which can “only be limited for security reasons, on a case by case basis, but never for strictly punitive or disciplinary purposes.”