A group of Palestinians
gathered on Monday to cross from Gaza and visit relatives in Israeli prisons
for the first time in five years.
The visits were banned in
June 2007, leaving the families of hundreds of Gazans held in Israeli jails
unable to see their sons, husbands and fathers.
Emotions were running high
among the relatives, a group of men and women whose departure from Gaza through
the Erez border crossing into Israel was facilitated by the International
Committee of the Red Cross.
Among those crossing was
the mother of prisoner Mohammed Hamdiya, who said she was almost overwhelmed
with excitement at the thought of seeing her son again.
"You can't imagine my
joy at being able to meet my son Mohammed soon, to be able to see his face
again after all these years," she told AFP.
In all, 24 prisoners from
Gaza would receive relatives from the coastal territory, Israel Prisons Service
spokesperson Sivan Weizman said. The visit of a few hours would take place at
Ramun prison in southern Israel.
Israel agreed to restart
the visits on a trial basis as part of a deal between prison authorities and
Palestinian detainees to bring an end to a mass hunger strike earlier this
year.
The prisoners were calling
for the easing of the conditions of their detention, including greater access
to lawyers and relatives, and an end to solitary confinement.
The Red Cross welcomed the
visit, and said it hoped they would resume on a regular basis.
"This is a first step
and we hope that visits by residents of Gaza will resume in full," Juan
Pedro Schaerer, head of the ICRC in Israel and the Palestinian territories,
said in a statement.
"We have repeatedly
called for the resumption of family visits, which are a lifeline for detainees
and their families. Under international humanitarian law, Israeli authorities
have an obligation to allow the detainees to receive family visits."
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