Palestinian Center: Detention of 1,700 Martyrs' Bodies Extends Forced Disappearance Crime

The Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons said that the Israeli occupation's detention of about 1,700 bodies of Gazans, according to a Haaretz report, constitutes damning evidence and a systematic extension of the crime of forced disappearance. It also pointed to estimates of about 2,000 forcibly disappeared persons, and the return of 480 bodies since the ceasefire.

The Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons said that what was revealed by a report by the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz regarding the Israeli occupation authorities' detention of about 1,700 bodies of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, to use them as future bargaining chips, constitutes damning evidence and a systematic extension of the crime of forced disappearance. The Center explained, in a statement, that this Israeli admission reflects only a small part of a deeper and more complex reality surrounding the file of the missing in the Gaza Strip. It pointed out that its estimates indicate that there are about 2,000 Palestinians forcibly disappeared, whose traces were completely cut off during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. The Center added that the Israeli occupation authorities have returned, since the ceasefire entered into force in the Strip, about 480 bodies in separate batches, while the fate of thousands of missing persons remains unknown.