Israeli authorities refuse to allow families of Hamas leader to enter Gaza

Israeli authorities refused on Thursday a request by a top Hamas official to let his families living in Israel visit the Gaza Strip for his son's wedding, citing that the refusal was because some Israelis are still missing in Gaza.

Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Hamas movement, filed a request citing "humanitarian grounds," asking Israeli authorities to allow his three sisters, who live in Bedouin communities in the southern Israeli Negev Desert, enter the enclave to celebrate his son's wedding.

According to a statement issued by the Israeli defense body, the Coordinator of the Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Ismail Haniyeh's request was denied due to "Israeli humanitarian cases'' in Gaza.

Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai, Commander of the COGAT, said that the humanitarian issues referred to the two Israelis - a 28-year-old Ethiopian Israeli named Avraham Mengistu and an Israeli Bedouin whose name was still not cleared, who have been lost since last year in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Mordechai also refused on Wednesday another request by Ihab al-Ghussain, Hamas's information official, to cross through Israel into Jordan, in order to receive medical care amid his deteriorating health, the Ha'aretz daily reported on Thursday.

Israel imposed a blockade over the Gaza Strip enclave in 2007, after Hamas took over the strip following the Palestinian civil war.

Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organization and it had fought with Hamas in several rounds of wars in the past few years. Endit