Palestinian Authority demands Israel to disclose fate of individuals arrested in Gaza

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The Palestinian Authority accused Israel of detaining more than a hundred Palestinians from the Gaza Strip during the war, demanding that Israel reveal their exact number and fate.

Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Authority's Commission for Prisoners' Affairs, told Agence France-Presse, "The most dangerous thing happening is that Israel does not disclose the number of detainees it has arrested during its operations in the Gaza Strip" since the bloody attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7th.

"We fear that they may have been killed after their arrest and interrogation," he said.

Fares confirmed that the Palestinian Commission for Prisoners' Affairs had approached Israeli and international authorities to obtain the number, but no answers were received.

"We were informed once at the beginning of the war that the army had arrested 105 Palestinians, and we do not know their fate."

The Israeli army declined to comment, saying in response to a question from Agence France-Presse, "We cannot clarify this issue at the moment."

Information from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs indicates that the Israeli army detained Palestinians from Gaza who were moving from the north to the south.

During the ongoing seven-week war and the four-day ceasefire, the Israeli forces arrested individuals traveling south on the Salah al-Din road. This road was the only one Israel allowed evacuees to use after instructing them to leave northern Gaza, according to the United Nations.

The evacuees from Gaza told the United Nations that the Israeli army set up a checkpoint on the road equipped with face recognition cameras controlled by remote soldiers.

The United Nations noted the passage of "separated families."

It added, "At least one child was forced to cross this checkpoint alone after his father was arrested at this inspection point."

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported last Tuesday that one of its caregivers named Ramadan Hossu from Jabalia in northern Gaza was arrested on the southern road and detained for hours before being released.

Hossu said, "Israeli soldiers told those in front of me: turn around and go there. Then they told me: go there. They interrogated me, stripped us of our clothes, and took us to a checkpoint and then to a tank."

Sahar Awad, a displaced person from Gaza, told Agence France-Presse that Israeli soldiers arrested her son Mohammad at the southern exit of Gaza City on November 12.

She added, "He was released after nine days" after "being tortured."

The Israeli army launched a violent attack on the Gaza Strip in response to the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli positions on October 7, resulting in the killing of 1,200 Israelis, according to Israeli authorities, and the abduction of about 250 Israelis, including children and women.

During this period, Israel killed about 15,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured more than 30,000 others.

Regional and international parties succeeded in reaching a humanitarian truce for four days, ending on Tuesday morning, during which Hamas will release 50 of the captives in exchange for Israel releasing 150 Palestinian detainees, including women and children.

AFP