GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A group of Gaza residents on Monday visited their relatives detained in Israel, the International Committee for the Red Cross said.

An ICRC spokesman told Ma'an that 62 people left Gaza via the Erez crossing to visit 44 prisoners in Nafha jail.

In July, Israel allowed the first visits to prisoners from Gaza in five years. Visits had been banned since 2007 to pressure Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was freed in Oct. 2011.

Israel agreed to resume family visits for Gaza prisoners as part of a deal to end a mass month-long hunger strike in Israeli jails.