Official: Red Cross says Gaza relatives still visiting Israeli jails
Published today (updated) 02/11/2012 14:05
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=533179

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross is still
coordinating family visits to Gazans imprisoned in Israeli jails, a Gaza
official said Friday.

The Palestinian Authority prisoner affairs ministry said earlier this week
that Israel had canceled the family visits, three months after they were
resumed.

But DFLP official Louai Moamar said the ICRC is not aware of any
cancellation, after a meeting with Khan Younis ICRC chief Enrique Lomana and
the governor of the southern Gaza province.

Rather, the Red Cross organized a visit last week that passed without
obstacles, and has already got Israeli approval for another next week, he
said.

In July, Israel allowed the first visits to prisoners from Gaza in five
years. Visits had been banned since 2007 to pressure Hamas to release
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was freed in Oct. 2011.

Israel agreed to resume family visits for Gaza prisoners as part of a deal
to end a mass month-long hunger strike in Israeli jails.