Maldives decides Israel passport ban will remain in place despite Gaza ceasefire

Demonstrators protest outside the President's Office demanding the passage of the Israel passport ban bill. (Sun Photo/Naish Nahid)

The Maldives has no plans to drop the ban on entries on Israeli passports in light of the recent ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hamas in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, says Attorney General Ahmed Usham.

The Maldives had written in amendments to the Immigration Act on April 15, implementing a ban on entries on Israeli passports “until Israel stops the inhumane attacks it launched on Palestinian people on October 7, 2023.”

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been streaming back into Gaza’s north after Israeli forces pulled back on Friday as part of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to halt two years of relentless attacks on Gaza.

When asked what the ceasefire means for the ban on Israeli passports, Usham told Sun on Saturday that the Maldivian government has no plans to reverse the decision until a widely backed two-state solution is reached.

Attorney General Ahmed Usham attends a press conference at the President's Office on September 3, 2024. (Photo/President's Office)

“Therefore, we will not even consider changing the decision to ban Israeli passports until such a situation arises, until the situation changes,” he said.

Israel’s bombardment has killed more than 67,700 people since October 2023 and plunged Gaza into a humanitarian crisis.

The UN estimated that 92 percent of all residential buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed since the war began, and hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been forced to live in tents and other makeshift shelters.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been streaming back into Gaza’s north after Israeli forces pulled back, to find their homes and neighborhoods destroyed.

Palestinians carrying belongings head back north to Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan and Al-Jala Street as the ceasefire takes effect. (Photo/AA)

The Maldives has remained steadfast in its support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the establishment of an independent and sovereign State of Palestine, based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Delivering Maldives’ statement at the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, Foreign Minister Dr. Abdulla Khaleel called out countries for their complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, describing it as “the shame of the century.”