GAZA, PALESTINE, January 14 – Women fill the courtyard of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)’s Gaza Strip headquarters during a weekly sit-in by families of Palestinians detained by Israel. (Photo: Joe Catron)
Every Monday morning families of Palestinians detained by Israel gather in the courtyard of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s Gaza Strip headquarters.
A girl and a woman join a weekly sit-in by families (Photo:Joe Catron)
An organizer said in 2011 that the event, which began after the redeployment of Israeli forces following the Oslo accords in 1994, “could enter the Guinness book of records for the longest running weekly sit-ins in the world.”
Children hold signs at the weekly sit-in (Photo: Joe Catron)
Israel holds 4,812 Palestinian political prisoners, including 437 from the Gaza Strip, according to the ADDAMEER Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.
It ended its ban on prison visits by spouses and parents of Gaza Strip detainees after last year’s Karameh (Dignity) mass hunger strike, but still keeps children from visiting their detained parents and often cancels visits by other relatives.
