Gaza families visit relatives jailed in Israel
May 25, 2015 7:23 A.M. (Updated: May 25, 2015 7:23 A.M.)

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Sixty-one Palestinians from the Gaza Strip crossed into
Israel to visit relatives in Israel's Ramon prison on Monday.

Among the visitors were 11 children, according to a spokeswoman for the
International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City Suheir Zaqut.

She added that 37 prisoners in Ramon will be visited.

The ICRC "Family Visits Program" for Gazans was suspended by Israeli
authorities in June 2007 when Hamas came to power in the coastal enclave.

All communication between Gazan prisoners and the outside world was
effectively cut off, prisoners' rights group Addameer reported, and during a
Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike in April 2012, one of the prisoners'
key demands was that the program be reinstated.

Israel agreed to resume the visits on the conclusion of the hunger strike,
although Addameer has reported that many Gaza prisoners have not been
allowed to receive visitors.

There were 375 Gazans in Israeli jails as of April 1, 2015, according to
Addameer.