GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The Hamas Movement has strongly denounced the Israeli occupation authority for maltreating Palestinian passengers who entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing on Monday.
“The returnees, particularly women and children, were subjected to deliberate mistreatment and extortion by Israeli forces [at the crossing], including coercive interrogation, blindfolding, prolonged detention, threats against their children, and attempts to force them to collaborate,” Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday.
Hamas added that the passengers had been exposed to “deliberate and humiliating Israeli practices that cannot be regarded as normal travel procedures, but rather systematic violations aimed at instilling fear among returnees and dissuading them from resettling in the Strip.”
Hamas urged international human rights organizations to document Israel’s serious violations against Palestinian returnees and to make legal efforts to hold Israeli leaders accountable for such practices at international and local courts.
The Movement also called on mediators and sponsors of the ceasefire agreement to act swiftly to halt such practices at the crossing and pressure the Israeli occupation regime to reopen the Rafah crossing under normal conditions and without restrictions.
