Ramallah: Hamas security forces in Gaza Strip barred on Sunday tens of Palestinian children (sons of Palestinian martyrs who were killed in Israel’s latest offensive on Gaza) from crossing the Beit Hannoun Crossing (Erez Crossing) to visit Israel and the Occupied West Bank.
Israeli public radio announced that the planned visit was meant to provide the children with a week long relief from the siege on Gaza and the latest memories of the war.
The visit was planned via a number of non-government international organizations which secured the Israeli permits to pass through the crossing for 37 Palestinian youth from the ages of 12 to 15.
Fathers of the majority of those children were Hamas operatives who died during the latest Israeli offensive on Gaza.
Sources in Gaza told Gulf News that once Hamas security forces learnt about the process, scores of them showed up at the Beit Hanoun Crossing and prevented the children from passing the crossing to Israel and ordered them to return to their homes.
Hamas issued a statement saying that the Gaza-based Palestinian security forces barred the Gazan children from traveling to the 1948 areas branding the visit as ‘suspicious’ as those children were scheduled to visit cities of the Israeli regime and colonies.
“Barring the Gaza children to conduct this suspicious visit is meant to preserve and protect their culture and protect them from the normalization policy.”
The visit was planned to last for a week, during which the Gazan children would be able to get a chance to get a relief from the war time, the siege and meet Israeli children.
The Gazan children, according to the Israeli radio, were also scheduled to visit some of the colonies around Gaza and the Zoo Park in Ramat Gan and were also scheduled to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
