The Israeli government on Thursday announced that all visits of Hamas security prisoners in Israeli prisons by their families from the Palestinian Authority have been stopped. The decision was made following the Goldin family’s petition to the High Court of Justice to ban Hamas members from the Gaza Strip from entering Israel for humanitarian purposes.
The bodies of fallen Israeli soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul have been held by Hamas in Gaza since the war of the summer of 2014, and their families have been campaigning against what they said was the Israeli government’s lackluster response to this outrage.
A month ago, the Israeli government banned the arrest of families from the Gaza Strip to visit their Hamas-member relatives in Israeli prisons. Thursday’s decision extended the ban to families residing in Judea and Samaria.
The statement regarding the ban on PA families was given by a representative of the state at a High Court of Justice hearing of the Goldin petition. Thursday’s hearing revolved around the issue of the humanitarian entry of Hamas members from the Gaza Strip to receive medical treatment in Israel.
The Goldin family demanded that the Israeli Cabinet’s decision regarding the approach to Hamas as long as the two bodies, as well as two living Israeli citizens who are held by Hamas in Gaza, have not been released, stating: “The time has come to make it clear to Hamas and its people that the days of medical treatment in Israel have ended, and that from now until the return of the soldiers’ bodies, these treatments will be given in Qatar, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan.”
Of course, even going for treatment abroad would require Hamas embers’ entry into Israel to catch a flight at Ben Gurion International Airport.
During the trial, Hadar Goldin’s father, Simcha, attacked Prime Minister Netanyahu, saying that the decision of his cabinet had not been implemented. “If it were possible, I would demand that the prime minister be brought here to give answers to the family and to all the citizens of Israel, why these decisions are not being implemented.”
“Those who pity the cruel end up being cruel to the families of the abducted soldiers,” Goldin said.