Destruction in Gaza
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Collaborator asks to enter Israel
Gaza resident petitions High Court, says he was recruited by Shin Bet about a year ago, is now in danger. His wife, children live in Israel
A resident of the Gaza Strip petitioned the High Court of Justice on Sunday, demanding that he be allowed into Israel.
The man, 35, claimed that he was a Shin Bet collaborator and that his life was in danger as long as he remained in the Strip.
His pregnant wife and two children live in central Israel. About a year ago, he was seized in Israel as an illegal resident, but was not put on trial. Instead, he was recruited by the Shin Bet general security service.
In the petition, filed against Interior Minister Meit Sheetrit, Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the Palestinian said he had married an Israeli woman about four years and had two children with her.
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The man added that he was returned to Gaza eight months ago under circumstances he wished not to elaborate on. His wife and children remained in Israel.
He said he had been warned recently by his Shin Bet operators that Hamas was planning to assassinate him and that he should therefore flee his home.
The man escaped, and said that since the Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza began an assassination cell had arrived in his home and found evidence that he had been collaborating with Israel.
According to the Palestinian, he has been hiding in Gaza ever since and recently managed to contact the Defense Ministry's "committee of the threatened" and ask them to discuss his matter and let him enter Israel. The discussion, however, was only set for three more weeks.
The man said in the petition that the IDF operation and the conflict in the south put his life in real danger.
In his petition, he asked Israel not to take its time and let him leave the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing as soon as possible. He added that his life was in immediate danger and that the Jewish state must pay its moral duty to him.
The Supreme Court ordered the State to respond to the petition by Monday afternoon.
