Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza on Monday condemned the arrest of Israeli trader Bassam Ghorab after being summoned for an interview at Beit Hanoun (Erez) Crossing.
PCHR also condemned the Israeli occupation policy of arbitrary detention and the use of crossings to inflict and blackmail Palestinians and exploit their humanitarian needs.
Al Mezan said in a press statement: Al Mezan condemns the continued occupation by the Israeli authorities to use their effective and absolute control at the crossings and use them as a trap to arrest and extort Palestinians, especially Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing for the movement of people. The Israeli occupation forces arrest Palestinian traders, patients and passengers when they pass through the crossing after being granted passes, or after summoning them for a security interview. This happened with the trader Bassam Ghorab, who was arrested after being summoned for a security interview.
According to field information, Israeli occupation forces, positioned at Beit Hanoun (Erez) Crossing, arrested Bassam Mahmoud Yousef Ghorab, 41, from Al-Twam neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip. 8:00 am to the Beit Hanoun checkpoint to meet Israeli intelligence at the request of the latter, after applying for a permit to work in trade earlier.
This month, the Israeli occupation forces arrested two other traders in the same manner: Yousef Jawad Khamis Hassan (30 years), from Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza, and Fadel Yousef Mahmoud Al-Deiri (39 years), from al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza.
According to monitoring and documentation activities carried out by Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, the Israeli occupation forces have arrested 7 Palestinians at the Beit Hanoun Crossing since the beginning of 2019, including (5) merchants, patient facilities and a traffic situation.
PCHR called upon the international community to take action to ensure respect for the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, to lift the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and to guarantee freedom of movement for the people of the Gaza Strip, whether in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, or the outside world, and to stop arbitrarily arresting Palestinians.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights expresses its strong condemnation of the detention of passengers, especially patients, their companions and traders, and strongly condemns the Israeli occupation forces´ policy of arbitrary detention and the use of crossings to inflict and blackmail Palestinians and exploit their humanitarian needs. PCHR stresses that the actions of the Israeli occupation authorities have catastrophic physical and psychological effects on these travelers, and threaten the lives of patients referred for treatment outside the Gaza Strip in particular, and in the context of serious and systematic violations of the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
