GENEVA, (PIC)
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor called for immediate action to end the arbitrary detention and forced disappearance of hundreds of Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip.
It also called for the disclosure of the detainees’ whereabouts and their detention conditions, stating that it had received reports that numerous Palestinians had been subjected to torture, maltreatment, and extrajudicial executions.
Euro-Med confirmed that it had received hundreds of reports regarding people going missing in the Gaza Strip. It was suspected that these people had been taken into custody by Israeli forces from their homes or from shelters that they raided during their incursion. Dozens of them were subjected to arbitrary and extrajudicial executions.
The Geneva-based organization said that these executions are a continuation of the widespread killings and field executions that the Israeli army has carried out during military operations and home and shelter center raids, noting that detainees from Gaza Strip are subjected to forced disappearance amid a total blackout over their numbers, names, and detention conditions and places, which increases the chances of Israel’s immunity from accountability and impunity for these crimes related to murder under torture and arbitrary and extrajudicial executions
Roughly seven thousand people—mostly women and children—are reported missing. Most of them are thought to have perished beneath the debris of houses hit by Israeli airstrikes, on the streets, or inexplicably vanished from neighborhoods where Israeli army ground incursions were taking place.
Euro-Med Monitor indicated that there is no accurate count of Palestinian detainees, specifically due to the ongoing Israeli enforced disappearance policy, the difficulty of receiving reports in the Gaza Strip due to the high number of displaced persons, and the almost complete interruption of communications and the Internet.
However, preliminary estimates suggest that more than 3,000 people have been detained by Israeli forces, including 200 women and young girls. These Palestinians are being held in detention in blatant violation of international law, with no official information available regarding their charges or conditions.
