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Israel’s Ministry of Defence has accepted agriculture minister Shalom Simchon’s request to transfer some 7,500 calves into Gaza for Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday on around 27 November this year and symbolised by the slaughtering of animals to distribute meat to the poor.
''This is a humanitarian gesture but it will also stop the smuggling of cattle into Gaza from Egypt which might be infected with diseases that will infect Israeli herds,” Simchon said.
Beef is considered a luxury by Israel's defence ministry and therefore is not allowed into Gaza on a regular basis under the sanctions Israel has imposed on the Strip. Israeli cattle farmers, who reared all the calves and stand to benefit financially from the transfer, lobbied the Israeli government to allow it.
NGO Gisha, a legal centre for freedom of movement, has filed a petition under the freedom of information act claiming that a lack of public oversight raises questions of impropriety in the transfer of goods to Gaza. The petition was filed after six months of attempts to obtain information relating to the entry of food and goods into Gaza.
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