Palestinian detainees from Gaza held by Israel unaccounted for, say Israeli media

Many Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody are unaccounted for, with the army denying any knowledge of their whereabouts, according to Israeli media on Monday.

“The fate of many Palestinians from Gaza who were detained by the Israeli army is unknown,” said Haaretz. “The army claims that there is no indication that those Palestinians have been detained, despite the fact that they were last seen by the soldiers or before their arrest.”

The newspaper said that Palestinians and rights groups have filed 27 petitions to Israeli courts to know the fate of those detainees. “Most of these petitions, however, were rejected,” it added. “But in some cases, the petitions led the army to re-examine to find out that the people the army claims it has no information about were in Israeli detention centres or had died.”

In August, Palestinian rights groups said that the Israeli judicial system facilitates the crime of forced disappearance of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, and called for those responsible to be held accountable.

Thousands of Palestinians are believed to have been detained by the Israeli army in the course of its deadly offensive on Gaza since October 2023.

Israel has killed more than 45,500 people in Gaza since a Hamas attack on 7 October last year, and reduced the enclave to rubble.

In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war against the Palestinians in the enclave.

READ: Palestinian prisoners from Gaza die in Israeli jails