Rights group says 2,000 missing Palestinians disappeared during Gaza genocide

In a statement, the center said a Haaretz report revealing that Zionist regime 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 Zionist regime’s 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 Zionist regime’s 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.

Gaza health authorities received the bodies in difficult condition because of mutilation and improper preservation, further complicating identification efforts, the center added.

The center stressed that withholding bodies, tampering with them and concealing related information constitute grave violations of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, their additional protocols and customary international law, which guarantee families’ right to know the fate of their relatives and require parties to conflict to search for the martyrs, respect their bodies and facilitate their handover.

It said using bodies as bargaining chips amounts to collective punishment prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and an assault on personal dignity that may amount to a war crime under the Rome Statute.

The center called on the international community and the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene immediately and exert real pressure on Israeli authorities to disclose lists of detainees and withheld bodies and reveal their locations.

It also called for medical and rights teams to be allowed access to the bodies and to document their identities in line with legal procedures, and for the urgent and unconditional release of all bodies so they can be buried with dignity under international law and humanitarian principles.

Haaretz reported on Tuesday that Israel is holding the bodies of around 1,700 Palestinians, most of them from Gaza, to use as pressure and bargaining cards in future negotiations, despite the absence of any Israeli captives at present.

The newspaper cited two informed sources as saying that Shin Bet chief David Zini, backed by Zionist regime’s army leadership, insists on not releasing the bodies even when no captives are being held, claiming they could provide future security benefits.