Forced Disappearance Crimes: Key Aspect of the Genocidal War on Gaza
Author: Former Prisoner Abdel Nasser Farawna
Special Report - Palestinian Studies Foundation:
Before October 7, 2023, there were 189 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza held by the Israeli occupation. We knew their identities and names, were familiar with many of them, and even had a biography and photo for each one. We knew their places of detention and details of their lives behind bars. And I am not revealing a secret by saying we communicated with some of them via smuggled mobile phones, enabling voice and video interactions. However, this description applies only to a brief period before the genocidal war, and does not reflect the ongoing situations of the prisoners in Israeli jails under prolonged occupation.
Today, after more than a year of genocidal warfare on Gaza, their numbers have increased to the thousands, according to testimonies from those who survived or were released after detention. However, these figures are only estimates; we still do not know their actual numbers or precise details about their demographics, including age and gender classifications. Thus, we lack comprehensive lists of their names, do not know their detention locations, and are unaware of their living conditions. They are victims of forced disappearance, counted among the missing and awaiting an unknown fate unless their status is disclosed.
Alive or Dead?
The distressing information and shocking leaked images, along with horrifying testimonies, mask the answer to this question. Reports have revealed horrifying torture, brutal conditions, and appalling detention environments, especially in the secret prison "Sde Teiman." Recently, CNN reported that Gazan detainees were being used as human shields. This corroborates earlier reports from the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" and aligns with accounts from Palestinian organizations and survivor testimonies. The number of reported fatalities is estimated in the dozens, though this figure is not final. Consequently, it remains unclear if all detainees from Gaza after October 7, 2023, are still alive, or if some have been summarily executed, killed as human shields, or tortured to death with their bodies hidden. Hebrew and international media, including "The Wall Street Journal," have reported on numerous Gazan detainees' deaths without naming them or explaining their deaths.
More may have joined this list without our knowledge, and more will likely follow in the coming days without ever being identified or counted, going missing indefinitely. We are left in the dark about the prisoners' locations, the number of those killed, their names, and burial sites, as enforced disappearance has affected both the living and the dead among Palestinians.
A Brief on Forced Disappearance and International Law
According to Article 2 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, enforced disappearance is "the arrest, detention, abduction, or any form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups acting with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which places such a person outside the protection of the law."
This means that victims of enforced disappearance are deprived of legal protection and basic rights, often detained in unofficial or secret places that strip them of freedom, violate their human rights, and put their lives in danger, potentially leading to death. Accordingly, the convention prohibits secret detention and criminalizes enforced disappearance, stating: "1. No one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance. 2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability, or any other public emergency, may be invoked to justify enforced disappearance." The convention obligates states to criminalize enforced disappearance, making it a punishable offense, and emphasizes in Article 5 that when practiced widely or systematically, it constitutes a crime against humanity under international law.
The enforced disappearance of Palestinians since the beginning of the genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, has affected thousands who were taken from streets, homes, hospitals, shelters, "safe corridors," and confrontation zones. Israel has denied these actions, restricted information, and continues to isolate and intentionally hide detainees, sealing its declared and secret prisons from international media, human rights organizations, and foreign observers. The following measures were enacted based on high-level orders:
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared from day one that all those detained from Gaza would be classified as "unlawful combatants," stripping them of Geneva Conventions protections and leaving them without basic rights under international law.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir ordered placing Hamas prisoners in underground detention without disclosing their numbers or identities.
Family visits were suspended for all Palestinian prisoners, isolating them completely.
The Israeli Prison Service denied the International Committee of the Red Cross access to these detainees.
Severe restrictions were imposed on lawyers to make prisoner visits infrequent.
The ongoing practice of enforced disappearance, long before the current Gaza war, represents a systemic Israeli policy, turning thousands of Palestinian detainees into victims of forced disappearance as of October 7, 2023, following orders that perpetuate and expand this crime. There is an evident link between enforced disappearance, secret detention sites, and burial of bodies in unmarked graves or hidden pits. This enforced disappearance is one of the defining aspects of the genocidal war on Gaza.
The persistence of enforced disappearance for Gazan detainees, along with the denial of Red Cross access, conceals past and potentially future crimes that could lead to additional harm, physical and psychological, and perhaps even the death of some detainees.
Finally, we remind that continued enforced disappearances are classified as crimes against humanity under international law, requiring urgent international action, particularly from the International Committee of the Red Cross, to halt this crime and reveal the fate of the thousands of Palestinian detainees who have been forcibly disappeared since October 7, 2023, both living and deceased.