Gaza - Mohammad Habib
Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi
Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi arrived at the Gaza strip on Sunday evening, in an ambulance car that passed through the Erez crossing gate. The ambulance headed to the Dar al-Shefaa
hospital in Gaza to check the activist\'s health.
Press sources confirmed that Shalabi (30), who ended a 44 days hunger strike, entered the Strip after security procedures at the Erez gate took about an hour.
The sources added that a delegation of the al-Jihad al-Islami movement along with the Hamas\'s Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, received Shalabi.
She was exiled to Gaza temporarily in a deal with Israel to end her hunger strike. Palestinian officials have condemned Israel for displacing her from her native West Bank.
Relatives were allowed to meet with her for an hour, they said. Earlier, the the Palestinian Authority ministry of prisoners affairs said Shalabi\'s parents and other relatives would not be allowed to see her.
Shalabi, from Jenin, ended a 44-day hunger strike on Thursday after reaching a deal with Israeli authorities that she will be deported to Gaza for three years before returning home.
Palestinian human rights groups, meanwhile, say they are alarmed by the deal and Israel\'s refusal to deny them access to Shalabi in the days leading up to her release.
An al-Jihad spokesperson had said in a statement on Sunday morning that Shalabi would be subject to a medical examination held by highly-qualified specialists, while the movement\'s women department would arrange a place to stay.
A massive public reception was organised for Shalabi near the Erez gate by the al-Jihad movement and several Palestinian organisations, while an al-Jihad official has said that the reception ceremony \"will take into account Shalabi\'s current state of health\".
Hana\'s father, Yahia Shalabi, has earlier opposed his daughter\'s transfer to Gaza blaming the lawyer Jawad Paulos, who is the representative of the legal administration of the Palestinian Detainee Club, for accepting the deal. He claimed his daughter \"could not make such decision by herself as she can\'t even talk after this long strike\".
Hana Shalabi was put under administrative detention after being released in the Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap deal that saw the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Administrative detention is a controversial part of Israeli policy that allows Israel to detain people who are suspected of vein involved in terror activity. Detention is for six months at a time with unlimited chances of renewal.
In other news, the jailers of the Israeli Nafha prison stormed prisoners’ cells on Sunday, and attacked them for refusing to undergo DNA tests, according to Issa Qaraqi, the minister of prisoners affairs. The minister said: \"Jailers have beaten the prisoners, injuring about 61 of them\". Qaraqi stressed the Palestinian prisoners \"have the right to refuse undergoing these types of tests, so it is not acceptable to assault them for exercising their rights\".