Two Palestinians have been deported to the Gaza Strip from Israel, raising fears that more expulsions could follow under a controversial new Israeli military order. After nine years in Israeli jail, Ahmad Sabah, a 40-year- old Palestinian, was sent to Gaza, instead of being released to the West Bank where his family was waiting for him.
Israelis sent him to Gaza because he had a Palestinian ID issued there. His family said that Sabah, who was arrested in 2001 for "security offences" against Israel, has no connection to Gaza and he has refused to leave the border crossing in protest at his treatment.
"It is my right to return to my wife and family," he said. The Israeli move drew condemnation from Palestinian political leaders, who denounced Sabah's deportation as "inhumane".
Issa Qaraqi, the minister of prisoner affairs in the government of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, said that Sabah should have been released to the West Bank. "He has no connection to Gaza, no relatives there, nothing."
He said that the deportation was an example of Israel invoking the controversial new military orders that allow "illegal" residents of the West Bank to be expelled. Sabah's case follows that of Saber Albayari, who was deported to Gaza after seeking medical treatment in an Israeli hospital on Wednesday.
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