Missing Palestinians: Between the Ruins and the Lack of Information | War in Gaza

The Palestinians are missing They number in the thousands. In the Ministry of Health Gaza Strip -the only official source to give a number- says about them 7 thousand. Many lie under the rubble of 70,000 homes that have been completely destroyed by the incessant bombings by Benjamin Netanyahu's regime. They were buried among the rubble of hundreds of schools and universities that were attacked. Perhaps they are still buried in the 227 mosques demolished by Israeli aircraft. Or 290 thousand partially demolished buildings still standing. These data were released on March 29 after 175 days of war. An ongoing battle Despite the ceasefire resolution Israel does not comply with the UN.

But there are many missing, not all of them covered by tons of stones and cement. Muhammad Aruri, head of legal affairs of the General Union of Palestinian Workers, said this last October. “We don't have any information about 5,000 of them. “We don't know if they're alive or dead.” He mentions workers who perform various tasks in Israel, citizens detained or kidnapped in the Strip, for whom there are no statistics. The Washington Post A few incidents were narrated in mid-March: “A young man sold cigarettes. An emerging singer. “An engineer at a local bottling plant…is one of thousands of people reported missing in Gaza.”

Last January, the Palestinian Ministry of Health's official statistics on missing persons were confirmed by another independent source. The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs' daily report on the situation in Gaza reported over 7,000 cases. He also emphasized 70% of victims are women and children. Their bodies were trapped in the rubble of the buildings they lived in. They are still unrecognizable. But many are missing. His absence was not the result of the bombings. Yes, the Israeli army is manhunting the local population in their occupied land.

The Palestinian Prisoners Association (PBA) has condemned the crime of enforced disappearance. By early February, the same source reported that the number of people abducted by occupation forces in the West Bank had reached nearly 6,540. Only in that territory, not counting Gaza, did the invasion begin to prevent a Hamas incursion into southern Israel, where it carried out massacring of civilians and taking hostages.

That PBS number is higher than that published by the International Committee of the Red Cross for the strip. About 5,000 people have disappeared, the organization said, including what happened to Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Doha. Article published on March 27 The New York Times He told his story. They dragged him away in front of his family. The outlet quoted Israeli intelligence sources as saying: “Mr. Abu Doha came within range of cameras embedded with facial recognition technology.” When he was released, the writer said Israeli soldiers told him they had interrogated him “wrongly”.

Netanyahu's government is using artificial intelligence against the Palestinians. This method of repression is not new. Before Gaza, he used it in the West Bank to monitor local population movements in 2023. “In both Hebron and occupied East Jerusalem, facial recognition technology supports a dense network of CCTV cameras to keep Palestinians under almost “constant” surveillance. This surveillance is part of a systematic effort by the Israeli authorities to create a hostile and repressive environment for Palestinians,” Amnesty International condemned.

Place Jacobin Published an article in October 2023, when Gaza began to be destroyed by the Israeli occupation army. He quoted Shaher Sayed, secretary general of the Palestinian General Union of Trade Unions (PGFTU), who had already denounced among his members that “some have disappeared, others are destitute, others have been detained, others have been deported to the West Bank”. ” On the same note, the Palestinian Union member elaborated: “They are prevented from returning to their homes, they are expelled from their workplaces and they are transferred to the West Bank without any form of asylum. This was done after physically assaulting them and confiscating their personal belongings such as money, identification documents and entry permits to Israel.

The total number of Palestinians affected during the 175 days of the occupation of Gaza – according to the Ministry of Health – was 32,782 dead and 75,092 injured and hospitalized. A report on civilian casualties provided by the same source indicated that the death toll would rise to 39,782 if the missing were included. Of that number, 14,350 are children killed and 17,000 live without one or both parents.

Other official statistics from the strip are terrifying. 700,000 people suffered from infectious diseases due to the displacement caused by the bombings. About 10,000 cancer patients will die if left untreated. About 60 thousand pregnant women do not have medical facilities. 8 thousand Palestinians are infected with viral hepatitis. Another two million people were forced to leave their homes. 70 thousand tons of explosives fell on them. If they were not killed, they were mutilated in the open, on the brink of starvation, without any particular fate. On March 26, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, opined that “the criteria to indicate that Israel is committing genocide are met”.

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