Gaza families seek answers over 11,200 missing Palestinians
Gaza families gathered outside the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Gaza City on Sunday, demanding information about more than 11,200 Palestinians reported missing or unaccounted for since Israel launched its war on the enclave in October 2023.
The protest was held on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Palestinian authorities say the missing include people believed to be buried under rubble, people who disappeared during military operations or displacement, and Palestinians believed to be held in Israeli detention.
Rights groups said the number of Gaza detainees remains unclear because many cases cannot be independently documented.
Detainees’ fate disputed
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoner Society and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association accused Israel of withholding detainees’ names, locations and health information.
They said families, lawyers, the Red Cross and rights groups have been denied access to many detainees and called for international investigations into alleged enforced disappearance, torture and deaths in custody.
The groups said at least 53 identified detainees from Gaza have died in Israeli custody since October 2023. They also said Israel continues to hold the bodies of Palestinians who died in detention.
Palestinian officials said the overall figure of more than 11,200 missing people includes more than 4,700 women and children.
Families demand information
Reem Abu Khuwaid said Israeli forces detained her husband and two sons during an operation in Gaza City in December 2023. She said she has received no information about their whereabouts.
The mother of Mahmoud Bassem Matar, 25, said her son disappeared on March 12 after leaving home during Ramadan. She said relatives contacted hospitals, missing-person organizations and the Red Cross but could not establish whether he was alive or dead.
Palestinian NGOs Network coordinator Mohammed Saleha said families had a right to know the fate and location of their relatives and urged the Red Cross, United Nations and other international bodies to press Israel for information.
In the occupied West Bank, four Palestinians were wounded by gunfire on Sunday during an attack by Israeli settlers in al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, the Palestinian Red Crescent and official WAFA news agency reported.
WAFA said settlers attacked the village under the protection of Israeli forces, damaging vehicles and approaching homes. Israeli forces also closed the village entrance, it said.
Settler attacks and Israeli military operations have increased across the West Bank since the Gaza war began, alongside the expansion of Israeli settlement outposts and restrictions on Palestinian movement.
British activist faces deportation
Israel has ordered the deportation of British activist Finn Joughin after he was detained in the southern West Bank, Haaretz reported.
Joughin was taken from the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair in Masafer Yatta on Saturday and held in a shed for about 30 minutes before being handed to police, according to the newspaper.
His lawyer said Joughin was participating in a protective presence initiative and had been trying to protect Palestinian property when settlers assaulted and detained him.
Police later withdrew a request to extend his detention and ordered his deportation, Haaretz reported.
The British Foreign Office said its embassy in Tel Aviv had raised the case with Israeli authorities and was seeking further information.
If you send future articles in this same format, I can keep using this tighter international wire-service style consistently.
Source:AA
