A systematic pattern of Israeli travel restrictions is preventing recently released Palestinian prisoners from reuniting with their families, creating what human rights organizations describe as a punitive extension of imprisonment through enforced separation.
For Habis Bayyoud, who endured 24 years in Israeli detention, freedom has become a form of solitary exile. Released to Egypt under the October Gaza ceasefire and prisoner-exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas, Bayyoud remains separated from his family after Israeli authorities barred all seven siblings, his 78-year-old mother Intisar, and their children from leaving the occupied West Bank.
“This is revenge against the prisoners and their families,” Jamal Bayyoud, Habis’s brother, told Middle East Eye. “Imagine spending 24 years in prison, only to find no one from your family allowed to reach you.”
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reports that Israel has deported 383 Palestinian prisoners under recent exchange agreements, but only approximately 10% of their families have managed to reunite with them. According to spokesperson Abdullah al-Zaghari, these travel bans represent “a continuation of Israel’s assault on prisoners” implemented through new restrictions imposed after mass deportations earlier this year.
Among those affected is Basem al-Khandaqji, imprisoned since 2004 and freed in the latest exchange. His family was stopped at the Israeli-controlled West Bank-Jordan crossing, with only his Jordanian-citizen sister permitted to proceed. “There is no logic in preventing a mother from seeing her son,” stated his older sister Amani.
The most poignant case involves Nael al-Barghouthi, 68, who holds the Guinness World Record as the world’s longest-serving political prisoner after spending 45 years in Israeli custody. Deported to Turkey following his January release, Barghouthi’s wife Iman Nafi’ and all relatives have been barred from leaving the West Bank.
“Israel denied Nael the right to remain in his homeland by deporting him,” Nafi’ told MEE. “They now deny him even one family member beside him in exile.”
Medical emergencies compound the tragedy. Abdel-Rahman Salah, 72, was transferred from Ramleh prison clinic to an Egyptian hospital following his release, where he spent months recovering from a brain hemorrhage caused by guard assault. His daughter Rasha Salah revealed that despite appeals to human rights organizations, Israel has not granted any of his seven children or his wife permission to travel and care for him.
Human rights organizations have approached international bodies to pressure Israel to lift the bans, but according to al-Zaghari, “nothing has changed on the ground.” The affected families maintain that these measures constitute political punishment rather than legitimate security precautions, as many had never faced travel restrictions before their relatives’ releases.