Israel deports Palestine girl from W. Bank to Gaza: NGO

By Amjad al-Nabhan

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - The Israeli authorities have deported a Palestinian girl from the occupied West Bank to the blockaded Gaza Strip without informing her family, a Palestinian legal source said Thursday.

According to Abir Jibran, a lawyer representing the girl for Israel's Hamoked rights group, said 14-year-old Ghada Ibrahim was picked up by Israeli authorities in the West Bank town of Al-Ram on Jan. 23.

Three days later, Jibran told Anadolu Agency, the authorities sent Ibrahim to the Gaza Strip -- via the Erez border crossing -- without informing her family in the West Bank.

The child was arrested, the lawyer said, because she "lacked permission" to live in the Israeli-occupied town.

"After three days in detention, she was told that she would be released at the Kalandia border crossing, which is close to her town," Jibran said.

"But instead, Ghada found herself at the Erez border crossing linking Israel with the Gaza Strip," she added.

The lawyer went on to describe the alleged deportation as "a violation of her most basic rights as a child".

According to the Palestinian population registry, Ibrahim lives in the Gaza Strip at the home of her father. She was born in the West Bank, however, and had never before set foot in the Gaza Strip.

Residents of the blockaded Gaza Strip are banned from entering the occupied West Bank without special permits.

According to a recent statement released by Hamoked, Israel deported 27 Palestinians from the West Bank to Gaza in 2017.