Description

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- An elderly cancer sufferer was banned from accompanying the body of his dead wife through Israel's Erez crossing from Gaza, family members said on Sunday.

Huda al-Nmoura, from Hebron, died while visiting her sons in the Gaza Strip. Anees and Akram al-Nmoura were exiled from the West Bank after they were released from Israeli jail under an October exchange deal with Hamas.

Huda's husband Mahmoud Taleb al-Nmoura went to Gaza to bring back his wife's body, but Israeli authorities prevented him from leaving the blockaded strip with the body via the sole passenger terminal at the Israeli border, his family said.

The 80-year-old was deemed a security threat and ordered to return to Hebron through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, then take air or sea transport into Jordan, before crossing back into the West Bank.

It was not clear whether the cancer sufferer could complete the three-country journey before Huda Al-Nmoura is buried in the town of Dura south of Hebron at noon Monday, relatives said.