Israel began sending “thousands” of Palestinian workers to the Gaza Strip, which it has bombed incessantly for several weeks, according to journalists from Agence France Presse (AFP) and a Palestinian official.
“Thousands of workers who were blocked in Israel since October 7,” the day of the Hamas attack on Israeli soil that sparked the war, “were returned” to Gaza, Hicham Adwan, head of Gaza’s border posts, told AFP. .
According to Israeli authorities, around 18,500 Gazans had work permits in Israel at the start of the war.
Images transmitted this Friday by AFP from the neighboring city of Rafah show people crossing the Karem Abu Salem border post (called Kerem Shalom on the Israeli side), between Israel and the Gaza Strip, in the southeastern corner of the Palestinian enclave.
Contacted by AFP, Israeli authorities did not immediately provide the number of Gaza workers who were in Israel on October 7.
Israel has not yet commented or clarified the situation reported by AFP regarding the entry of Palestinian workers into the south of the enclave.
On October 10, Israel revoked all work permits granted to Gazans, according to Israeli non-governmental human rights organizations.
“The Israeli army and police imprisoned Gazans” without “any legal basis,” the organizations added.
In the early days of the war, AFP contacted Gaza workers in Israel who had left – or been returned by employers or the police – to the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 and separated from the Strip. of Gaza through Israeli territory. . .
Source: TSF
