Jerusalem ? A military court on Monday approved the expulsion of three Palestinian relatives of suspected terrorists from the West Bank to Gaza, the Israeli military said.

The expulsions would be the first of their kind, a new Israeli tactic aimed at discouraging Palestinians from carrying out attacks. Human rights activists said the decision would be appealed to Israeli civilian courts.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it would carry out the expulsions “in the framework of the struggle against suicide terrorism and its supporting environment.”

Palestinian political factions, meanwhile, gave in to militant groups and scrapped a call for an end to attacks on Israeli civilians.

Instead, the groups, meeting in Gaza City to try to create a “national unity leadership,” endorsed the Palestinians’ 2-year-old uprising against Israel.

“We stress the legitimacy of our resistance against the (Israeli) aggression and the occupation, and the Israeli settlements,” said the latest draft from the meeting, obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The three Palestinians facing expulsion are Intisar and Kifah Ajouri, the sister and brother of Ali Ajouri, who is accused of giving belts with explosives to suicide bombers, and Abdel Nasser Asidi, brother of a Hamas activist who is suspected of killing several Israelis.

Israel decided on expulsion of relatives of suspected attackers, including suicide bombers, as a deterrent measure last month, at one point arresting 19 relatives, apparently intending to send them all to Gaza.

However, Atty. Gen. Elyakim Rubinstein ruled that only relatives who were directly connected to the attacks could be punished.