Following petition by Gisha, four Palestinian citizens of Israel living in Gaza were allowed to return home to the Strip amid the coronavirus closure
April 26, 2020. Gisha petitioned the High Court of Justice to demand that Israel allow Palestinian citizens of Israel who reside in Gaza to return to the Strip under the “split families procedure” (Hebrew). The petition came in response to a blanket ban on the entry of Israeli citizens into Gaza, imposed as part of measures implemented to address the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA, the operative unit of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, COGAT), the ban will remain in place “until further notice” (HCJ 4224/20 Altayef et al. v. GOC Southern Command et al., filed on April 7, 2020).
The petition (Hebrew) was filed on behalf of four Palestinian citizens of Israel who have lived in the Gaza Strip for many years. The four had been in Israel visiting their relatives and wished to return to their homes and families in Gaza, including minor children, urgently. Their request meets Israel’s narrow criteria for entry into Gaza under Israel’s “split families” procedure, which has been in place for many years, allowing Israeli citizens married to Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to reside in Gaza. This is the only way families can live together in cases where some family members are Israeli citizens and others are not.
While the four were waiting for responses to their applications, on March 29, 2020, the Gaza CLA announced that a decision (Hebrew) had been made to halt all entry of Israeli citizens into Gaza as part of measures put in place to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus, and to suspend the processing of such applications, “until further notice.” In addition to the remedy sought for the petitioners themselves, Gisha’s petition demanded, as a general remedy, that the respondents review all and any other applications submitted for entry into Gaza under the “split families” procedure.
In the petition, Gisha argued that the respondents’ decision to indefinitely halt the processing of permit applications by Palestinian Israelis whose families are divided between Gaza and Israel constituted a disproportionate and unreasonable infringement on fundamental rights and principles – the right to family life, the right to parenthood and the principle of the child’s best interest. Gisha also argued that the respondents failed to meet their duty to review and consider any application brought before them with due regard and to provide relevant, detailed responses, particularly when the applications are humanitarian by nature and rooted in constitutional rights and foundational principles.
After the petition was submitted, the respondents filed a notice to the court stating (Hebrew) that they had devised a plan for processing the petitioners’ request: The four would be permitted to return to Gaza so long as they signed a declaration stating that should they return to Israel while the coronavirus lockdown was still in effect, they would follow the instructions on self-isolation in place at the time, and that they would then not be permitted to reenter Gaza. However, the respondents refused to agree that other Palestinian citizens of Israel from “split families” would be permitted to return to their homes in the Gaza Strip according to the same parameters, noting only that the policy on similar applications is currently under review.
In the circumstances, Gisha argued (Hebrew) that the court should deliberate on the general remedy sought and order the respondents to consider applications made by other Israeli citizens from “split families.” In the judgment (Hebrew), given on April 26, 2020, the court ordered the petition deleted as the petitioners had been granted the remedy sought, noting, however, that the respondents were strongly advised to continue considering exceptional cases brought before them.
