Families in the Gaza Strip will visit relatives detained in Zionist jails on Monday for the first time since 2006

Families in the Gaza Strip will visit relatives detained in Zionist jails on Monday for the first time since 2006, a prisoners group said.

Gaza-based group Husam told Ma'an news agency that 48 family members would visit 25 relatives being held in Israeli jails. There are a total of 473 Gazan prisoners detained in the Zionist entity, group spokesman Muwaffaq Hmeid said.

The families left Gaza City to travel to the Erez crossing, he added.

Another group of families is expected to visit family members on July 23, Hmeid said.

"This is a first step and we hope that visits by residents of Gaza will resume in full," said Juan Pedro Schaerer, the head of the ICRC delegation in the Zionist entity and the occupied territories.

"We have repeatedly called for the resumption of family visits, which are a lifeline for detainees and their families. Under international humanitarian law, Israeli authorities have an obligation to allow the detainees to receive family visits," a statement said.