Palestinian deported from Israel to Gaza in February said killed in Israeli airstrike

An Arab man deported from Israel to Gaza in February was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Rafah, reports the Arab48 news site.

28-year-old Basel al-Qur’an lived in Israel on and off for two decades without permanent status. Most recently, he was caught driving without a license and subsequently jailed for illegal entry into Israel and domestic abuse. He was later deported to Gaza in February.

Al-Qur’an’s mother Marwa told the outlet yesterday that she was notified of her son’s death by one of the people he had been staying with in the Strip. His corpse was taken to Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis for identification. It is unclear when al-Qur’an was killed.

Al-Qur’an was born to an Arab Israeli mother and an Egyptian father in Gaza. Upon his parents’ divorce, his mother moved to Israel.

He visited his mother twice in Israel – once for three months when he was 11, then for one month when he was 13. He entered Israel again at the age of 18, using a six-day stay permit to attend a wedding, after which he remained in the country illegally.

Al-Qur’an found work in the country, learned fluent Hebrew and married an Arab Israeli woman with whom he had three kids.

Though his mother, wife and children are Israeli citizens, al-Qur’an was never able to obtain permanent residency or citizenship in Israel due to a 2003 law largely barring Palestinians married to Israeli citizens from the naturalization process.

Over several phone calls with The Times of Israel in March, the deportee claimed that upon his release from Shikma Prison on February 1 — the same day that 150 Gazan security detainees were freed as part of the hostage release-ceasefire deal with Hamas — Shin Bet agents took him to the Kerem Shalom border crossing, where two IDF soldiers loaded him onto an aid truck headed to Rafah.

His lawyer, Uzi Avraham, appealed to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Defense Ministry body that oversees coordination in the West Bank and Gaza, requesting he be allowed to return to Israel.

According to Avraham, COGAT responded that it was reviewing the situation and would decide how to address it by the end of March. However, both Avraham and al-Qur’an say the agency never followed up with them.

Editor’s note: This report has been updated to reflect information that has come to light about Basel al-Qur’an’s past criminal convictions and legal status in Israel.