In a 42-page joint report published on Monday, the B'Tselem and HaMoked rights watchdogs called on Israel to respect the rights “to family life and freedom of movement” of all Palestinian residents living in the besieged Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

“Israel's declared policy of isolating the Gaza Strip severely violates the right to family life of tens of thousands of Palestinians living in split families, divided between Gaza and Israel, or between Gaza and the West Bank," the report said on Monday.

The report went on to say that although Palestinians living in the West Bank are allowed to go to Gaza, they must commit to remain in the besieged strip.

"Israel prohibits all passage between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, except in very few exceptional humanitarian cases of first-degree relatives involving serious illness, death, or a wedding."

This is while not all Palestinians requesting to move between the two areas are permitted to do so.

According to the watchdogs, Israel’s policy “is especially detrimental to women” as these restrictions cut them off from their families after they get married.

Following the 1967 War when Israel seized Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinians were allowed relative freedom of movement. Restrictions have become tighter over the following decades.

Israel imposed an all-out land, aerial, and naval blockade on Gaza in June 2007.

The siege has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the impoverished enclave, having turned the territory into the world’s largest open-air prison.

In recent months, fuel and electricity shortages in Gaza have worsened as the Egyptian military has blocked supply tunnels leading into the region.

RA/NJF