The Israeli occupation refused to grant permission to enter the Gaza Strip for a European parliamentary delegation that planned to visit the Palestinian territories on Monday to examine the situation of Palestinians and residents of the city of Jerusalem and detainees in Israeli prisons.

The “united left” bloc in the European Parliament said in a statement that the Israeli occupation authorities refused to grant members of a parliamentary delegation arriving in the Palestinian territories on Monday, permits to enter Gaza.

The parliamentary bloc condemned the occupation decision as part of the policy of illegal blockade imposed on Gaza and is tantamount to collective punishment for nearly 2 million people living in the Gaza Strip, mostly children.

The head of the European Parliament’s relations committee with Palestine, the Cypriote Nicocles Selekiotis, will head a parliamentary delegation including Patrick Le Hyaric (France), Eleonora Forenza (Italy) and Joseo Javariste (Basque) on Monday for a four-day visit including the West Bank with East Jerusalem, to meet with Palestinian officials, civil society organizations, human rights defenders and victims’ families.

The visit will include a delegation meeting with Palestinian officials, including Mohammad Shata, director of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament), according to the same statement.

Members of the European delegation will also meet the families of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons to highlight their “unjust” situation and call for their immediate release.