Petition to allow the return of an Israeli citizen living in Gaza to her home HCJ 4743/14 Wahidi v. Commander of the Gaza Strip

Ms. Wahidi is an Israeli citizen, who, like many others, moved to the Gaza Strip after she married a Gaza resident. The State of Israel allows citizens like Ms. Wahidi to exercise their right to family life through the Divided Families Procedure (Hebrew) which regulates Israeli citizens’ entry and stay in the Gaza Strip.

Ms. Wahidi moved to the Gaza Strip in 1987. She is now 62 years old and in poor health. She lost her husband about nine years ago, but her two adult children and five grandchildren live in the Gaza Strip.

Ms. Wahidi visits her relatives in Israel once every few months. On May 12, 2014, she went to visit her sick brother in Israel. When she made a request to return to her home in Gaza, it was refused due to “security based objections”.

On July 6, 2014, an urgent petition (Hebrew) was submitted to the High Court of Justice on behalf of Ms. Wahidi, requesting that the court to allow her to return to the Gaza Strip, given that the respondents’ recent refusal was issued without consideration for relevant facts such as her medical condition, her family life in Gaza, nor the fact that she had relied on the respondents’ previous decisions and had fully complied with the requirements set out in the law and relevant protocols. The respondents’ conduct was callous and inhumane and their decision was also substantively flawed: no reasoning was provided for the decision – a breach of the principles of good governance; the decision was made arbitrarily and was unreasonable and disproportionate.

A hearing on the petitions has been scheduled for in early September 2014.