The Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared said on Wednesday that around 2,000 people have completely disappeared during Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, with their fate still unknown.
In a statement, the center said a Haaretz report revealing that Israel is holding around 1,700 bodies of Palestinians from Gaza to use as future bargaining chips constitutes clear evidence of the systematic crime of enforced disappearance and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
The center said the Israeli report reflects only part of a broader and more complex reality surrounding Gaza’s missing persons file, estimating that around 2,000 people have been forcibly disappeared during the war.
It added that the crisis worsened as thousands of Palestinians disappeared during military operations, while heading to aid distribution and relief waiting areas, or after being present in zones under direct Israeli control.
According to the center, the fate of the missing ranges from undeclared detention to death and the withholding of bodies inside Israeli facilities, amid official secrecy and deliberate concealment of information. It said this has deepened the suffering of hundreds of families living in a prolonged state of loss and waiting.
The center said Israeli authorities have returned around 480 bodies in separate batches since the ceasefire entered into force in Gaza, while health authorities in the territory were forced to bury 377 of them without identifying their owners.
It stated that identification was impossible because Israel refused to provide any data, personal belongings or medical reports that could help determine the identities of the bodies or clarify the circumstances, locations or dates of death.
Source:Websites
