An Israeli court on Thursday issued an eight-month suspended sentence against two sisters of Ismail Haneyya, the deputy head of Hamas's political bureau, for visiting their relatives in the Gaza Strip a few years ago.

The Hebrew radio said that the district court in Beersheba sentenced Sabah Haneyya and Lila Abu Raqiq to eight suspended months on charges of their entry to Gaza illegally.

Haneyya’s sisters, who are married to Palestinian men living in the 1948 occupied lands, were also fined 20,000 shekels ($5,100) under the same charges.

The court verdict stated that the defendants are Israeli citizens who entered the Gaza Strip in 2012 through Egypt after the Israeli authorities declined their request for travel.

The Israeli occupation authority rarely grants permits to Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who want to visit Gaza.