Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement.

  •  
  •  
  •  
  • About
    • About Gisha
    • Board
    • Gisha Staff
    • FAQs
    • Vacancies
    • Institutional Donors
  • Topics
    • Control over Gaza
    • Economy and Development
    • Access to Education
    • Family Unity
    • Residency Rights
    • Other
  • Legal Activity
    • Legal Advocacy
    • Procedures and Protocols
  • Media
    • Gisha in the media
    • News Releases
    • Media Inquiries
  • Reports & Data
    • Publications
    • Graphs
    • Gaza up close
  • Gallery
    • Image Gallery
    • Video Gallery
  • Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Get information
    • UNDO the closure
    • Campaigns
  • Updates
    • Updates
    • Gisha in Action
  • Contact Us
Legal Activity » Legal Advocacy » Israel denies an elderly cancer patient permits to enter Gaza for her sister’s funeral. Following High Court petition by Gisha, Israel reverses its denial

Israel denies an elderly cancer patient permits to enter Gaza for her sister’s funeral. Following High Court petition by Gisha, Israel reverses its denial

February 13, 2019. The petitioner is a 70-year-old mother of 13, and a cancer patient. She was born in the Gaza Strip and moved to Israel in 1968 following her marriage to an Israeli citizen. She recently received news that her sister had passed away in Gaza. When she found out, she waited to receive a copy of her sister’s death certificate and immediately submitted a permit application to enter the Strip to attend the funeral. Given her medical condition, she asked to be accompanied by her daughter.

The very same day the application was submitted, the office in charge of dealing with permit applications by Israeli citizens within the Gaza Civil Liaison Administration (CLA) notified Gisha that the petitioner’s application had been denied due to a pending case with the Collection System Authority, the Israeli governmental body in charge of collecting outstanding debts. The petitioner immediately settled her debt, an outstanding payment to the electric company, but for unknown technical reasons, the computer system wasn’t updated right away. When Gisha contacted the CLA once more, we were told that seeing as her sister’s funeral had already taken place, the petitioner’s application failed to meet the criteria for obtaining a permit to visit family.

In the petition (Hebrew) submitted on her behalf, we argued that the petitioner’s application did in fact meet the narrow criteria set by Israel for the entrance of Israeli citizens into the Strip. We further argued that the Gaza CLA often interprets the criteria unreasonably narrowly, thereby violating the fundamental rights of permit applicants. Given that Israel’s stringent criteria preclude family members that are divided between Israel and Gaza from seeing each other other than in the rarest of circumstances (a wedding, grave illness, or death of a first-degree relative), Israel should not wrongfully employ an overly literal interpretation in order to prevent even these rare reunions.

The day after the petition was submitted, the state announced it had withdrawn its denial, and that the petitioner and her daughter would both receive permits to enter Gaza. The petitioner traveled to the Strip the next day, was reunited with her family and got an opportunity to mourn her sister’s passing alongside them. Accordingly, we withdrew the petition and insisted on a costs order. The court accepted our position and issued a 7,500 ILS costs order in Gisha’s favor.

     

More in Legal Advocacy

  • Following Gisha’s High Court petition, Israel allows travel from Israel into Gaza for mourning rituals during the pandemic
  • Following petition, Israel allows a Palestinian woman to move back to the West Bank with her young children
  • Following petition, Israel allows a 75-year-old widow to return home to the West Bank from the Gaza Strip
  • Following petition, Israel allows a mother and her four children to return home to the West Bank from the Gaza Strip
  • Court ordered deletion of petition filed on behalf of a cancer patient wishing to return to her home in Gaza from Jordan, after her condition deteriorates

Gisha's Blog

Recent posts:
Cosmetic dreams‬
04.03.2021
A love too far away‬
14.02.2021
Back to the West Bank‬
31.01.2021
Donate
Get information
1.4 Million Did you know that seventy percent of the population in Gaza, 1.4 million people, are under 30 years old?
Watch the video
Gallery
Distant | Relatives
facebook icon   Gisha on Facebook
twitter icon   Gisha on Twitter
  • Homepage
  • About
  • About Gisha
  • Board
  • Gisha Staff
  • FAQs
  • Terms of Use
  • Vacancies
  • Legal Activity
  • Legal Advocacy
  • Procedures and Protocols
  • Media
  • Gisha in the media
  • News Releases
  • Reports & Data
  • Publications
  • Graphs
  • Gaza Up Close
  • Gallery
  • Image Gallery
  • Video Gallery
  • Updates
  • Updates
  • Gisha in Action
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • Get information
  • Contact Us
 TechnoCraft |  בניית אתרים | סטודיו ג2 | Copyright © 2021 Gisha.org