Up to 3,000 people forcibly disappeared in Gaza during Israeli war: Rights group

The Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons issued the estimate based on an analytical study of a sample of 317 cases, saying the findings showed indicators warranting an investigation into the possibility of a broader pattern of enforced disappearances in Gaza.

The center said its study was based on reports submitted by families of missing people and cases documented in the field and did not represent all cases of missing or forcibly disappeared people in Gaza.

Of the 317 cases examined, 302, or 95.27%, were males and 15 were females. The sample included 41 children and 17 people aged 60 or older.

Gaza City recorded the largest number with 89 cases, followed by northern Gaza with 74, Khan Younis with 59, central Gaza with 37 and Rafah with 32.

Regarding the circumstances of the disappearances, 76 cases occurred during Israeli military raids on homes or sieges of neighborhoods, while 60 occurred as people attempted to return to their homes or retrieve necessities.

Another 42 cases were recorded during displacement or while passing through military checkpoints, and 39 while people were searching for food or waiting for aid.

The center also documented 22 cases linked to the siege or storming of medical facilities or the transfer of patients and 10 involving journalistic or field work.

Separately, the organization estimated that between 4,000 and 5,000 people are missing and believed to be under the rubble of destroyed buildings, stressing that these cases should not be conflated with suspected enforced disappearances.

In April, the Palestinian Justice Ministry said more than 11,200 Palestinians had been reported missing or forcibly disappeared since October 2023, including more than 4,700 women and children.

The UN defines enforced disappearance as the arrest, detention or abduction of a person by state authorities or actors operating with their authorization, support or acquiescence, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or disclose the person’s fate or whereabouts.

The center called for the fate of all missing people to be disclosed, access for the International Committee of the Red Cross to detainees and the establishment of an independent international mechanism to investigate cases of enforced disappearance and hold those responsible accountable.

​​​​​​​With US support, Israel launched its war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, killing more than 73,000 Palestinians and injuring over 174,000, most of them women and children.