By: Zahran Ma‘ali
RAMALLAH, February 1, 2018 (WAFA) – On January 15 Ghada Rami Ibrahim, 14, found herself stranded, with no parents or siblings, at the border crossing with the Gaza Strip, a place she has only heard of but never been to even for once in her entire life.
The 14-year-old girl, who is diagnosed with epilepsy, was traveling back to her home in al-Ram, northeast of Jerusalem where she lives with her mother and siblings, after visiting her aunt in the neighborhood of Issawiya, in East Jerusalem, when an Israeli border guard force took her into custody for having no permit to be in Jerusalem on January 13.
Ghada was interrogated by the Israeli police and stood trial before the Israeli Magistrate Court on January 15 in the absence of her parents, according to HaMoked, Center for the Defense of the Individual.
Abir Dakor, Ghada’s attorney, told WAFA that one of the relatives of Ghada’s mother attended the trial and said the judge ordered her release on bail for 1,500 shekels ($437) on condition that she appears for any further proceedings.
Expecting to be reunited with her mother and siblings, the Israel Prison Service woke up Ghada early morning and informed her that she was going to be released at the Qalandia military checkpoint, just a few minutes-drives from her hometown.
After hours of travel, she was surprised to find herself at Beit Hanoun (Erez) border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Ghada’s Attorney Dakor explained that the Israeli Prison Service did not contact or inform Ghada’s family about her deportation to Gaza. She was able to reach her mother through an officer in the Palestinian Civil Liaison working at Beit Hanoun crossing.
Dakor said HaMoked approached the Israeli military authorities to return Ghada to her family as so as possible. “If we do not get a response today, we will go to the Israeli Supreme Court next Monday to file an urgent petition,” Dakor added.
The girl suffers from epilepsy and experiences unpredictable seizures every three to six months. Prior to her deportation, she was undergoing medical treatment at Al-Amal Medical Center in a-Ram.
Ghada is not the only Palestinian to be deported to the Gaza Strip, but the youngest ever to have been deported by Israel. According to HaMoked, Israel deported 27 Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip during 2017.
There are approximately 21,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank whose addresses remain listed as Gaza.
Israel continues to refuse to update their addresses and considers them illegal residents unless they have a special military permit to live in the West Bank.
M.N./M.H.
