Freed Palestinian woman pleads for reunion with family in Gaza

A Palestinian woman recently released from an Israeli prison has appealed to reunite with her family in the blockaded Gaza Strip, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Born in the city of Haifa north of Israel, Nasreen Abu Kamil holds an Israeli ID. However, she is married to a Palestinian man living in Gaza, with whom she has seven children.

Abu Kamil, who currently resides in the West Bank city of Hebron, said Israeli authorities have prevented her from crossing into Gaza to reunite with her family.

“Five days before my release, I submitted a letter demanding to return to Gaza,” the 47-year old woman told Anadolu Agency. “But they (Israeli authorities) said there is no coordination.”

The ex-detainee said her seven children and other relatives were not allowed to visit her during her time in jail and appealed to “everyone who can do something to help her to return to her family in Gaza.”

“I want to return to my children and my husband,” Abu Kamil pleaded, insisting that she does not want to stay anywhere else.

“I ask the whole world, and anyone with a conscience, to check into my case and to provide me with any help me see my children,” she said. “That will make me happy.”

Abu Kamil arrived in Hebron in the southern West Bank on Monday evening after her request to cross into Gaza was rejected. There, she was received by former prisoners.

Asked why she was imprisoned, Abu Kamil said she was arrested on 18 October 2015, and sentenced to six years in prison on charges of providing “aid to the resistance in Gaza.”

READ: In Gaza, freed Palestinian prisoner awaits Israeli permit to enter besieged enclave

Due to the harsh living conditions in the prison, Abu Kamil said she developed diabetes and high blood pressure.

Praising the people of Gaza for their support during her time in prison, Abu Kamil said she hopes all concerned parties, including human rights organizations, will get involved to secure her return to the blockaded territory.

Recalling her conditions in Israeli jails, Abu Kamil said life in prison “is tiring in all respects”, noting that the conditions of the female prisoners worsened after last month’s jailbreak.

On 6 September, six Palestinian detainees successfully escaped from the high-security Gilboa prison in northern Israel by digging a tunnel from their cell to outside the prison.

Israeli forces, however, managed to recapture them after almost a week of their prison break.

There are around 4,600 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including 35 women, 200 children, and 520 administrative prisoners, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.