HaMoked prevented removal to Gaza of a man trying to go to Tunisia where his wife and daughter are hospitalized following the shelling of their home in Gaza

On February 14, 2024, HaMoked filed an urgent petition to the Jerusalem Court for Administrative Affairs to stop the removal to Gaza of a Gaza resident and to allow his travel to Jordan via the Allenby Bridge Border Crossing. Israeli authorities detained the man while on his way to Tunisia, where his wife and 17-year-old daughter are hospitalized – his daughter in critical condition. The mother and daughter were injured during an Israeli shelling of their home in the Gaza Strip, in which the other seven children of the family were killed. 

The man had worked for three years at a sewing company in Ra’anana, and entered Israel on October 3, 2023, pursuant to an entry permit he received by virtue of his work. On October 7, 2024, with the Hamas assault on communities in southern Israel and the outbreak of the war, his permit was revoked as were all entry permits issued to Gazans. He therefore sought refuge in the West Bank. On November 1, 2023, his home in Gaza was bombarded by the Israeli military. As a result, seven of his children were killed and his wife and daughter severely injured. They were first evacuated for treatment in Egypt and then to Tunisia.

The man sought to leave the West Bank and join them in Tunisia. He managed on January 31, 2024 to get a Tunisian entry permit and bought a flight from Jordan to Tunisia for February 9, 2024. However, on February 6, 2024, having gone through the Palestinian side of the Allenby Border crossing, he was arrested by the Israeli military. His sister turned to HaMoked on February 14, 2024, to help trace him. HaMoked contacted the Anatot detention facility used for holding Gaza residents slated for removal to Gaza, and demanded that the man be allowed to consult with a lawyer. HaMoked also contacted the Military Legal Advisor for the West Bank in a bid to postpose his removal until it was possible to take legal action on his behalf. Despite HaMoked’s request to receive an immediate response, given the urgency involved, no response arrived and therefor the petition was filed.  

Only following the petition, did the Jerusalem Attorney’s Office notify on February 18, 2024, that the man would be allowed to leave via the Allenby Bridge crossing, He entered Jordan on February 19, 2024, and continued to Tunisia, to be beside his hospitalized wife and daughter, the only ones left from his family.