DaysofPal-Thousands of Palestinian families continue to live in distress as Israeli occupation forces hold their relatives in detention, depriving them of fundamental rights and leaving families trapped in anxiety and uncertainty about the fate of their loved ones.
Human rights organizations say the suffering has deepened due to a systematic policy of enforced disappearance, with the Israeli occupation refusing to disclose information about the location and conditions of many detainees.
Families argue that this deliberate lack of transparency, coupled with the absence of effective international intervention, represents a serious breach of international humanitarian law.
In protest, families of detainees in the Gaza Strip have maintained their weekly sit-in outside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) headquarters in Gaza City. Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, displayed photographs of detained relatives, and carried signs calling on the ICRC to meet its humanitarian and legal obligations and to actively work for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Families also issued an appeal to the international community, urging it to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities by ending violations against detainees. They emphasized that the detainee issue is not confined to political boundaries but is a universal humanitarian concern.
Dr. Eid Sabah, Director of Nursing at Kamal Adwan Hospital and the father of detainee Mohammed Sabah, who was arrested by Israeli forces on December 20, 2024, from inside the hospital in northern Gaza, said the gathering aimed to send a direct message to the Israeli occupation, the international community, and human rights institutions: the suffering of detainees can no longer be ignored.
Speaking on behalf of detainees’ families, Sabah called on international organizations, particularly the ICRC, to take decisive and urgent action to pressure the Israeli occupation into releasing detainees and halting the ongoing injustice within Israeli prisons.
He stressed that detainees “are human beings, not statistics,” warning that torture, psychological abuse, humiliation, medical neglect, and the denial of family visits constitute a systematic crime that amounts to a form of “slow death.”
Sabah said the Israeli occupation of practicing enforced disappearance against large numbers of detainees in clear violation of international conventions, while denying human rights organizations access to information about their fate. He added that testimonies from former prisoners confirm the existence of detainees whose whereabouts remain unknown.
Addressing the ICRC, Sabah asked pointedly, “Where is your role? Where are your reports? Where are the visits and protection?” He warned that international silence amounts to complicity and demanded immediate prison visits, an end to enforced disappearance, international investigations into torture, the application of the Geneva Conventions, and the unconditional release of all detainees, especially women, children, and the elderly.
Marwan Abu Nasr, speaking on behalf of the Prisoners’ Committee of the National and Islamic Forces, said the detainee issue has entered its most critical phase, with detention being used as a strategy of “slow killing” and a means of crushing Palestinian resilience.
Abu Nasr reported that 87 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody over the past 28 months due to torture, starvation, and medical neglect, describing these deaths as evidence of a systematic policy of execution.
He stated that by early 2026, the number of Palestinian detainees had reached approximately 9,350, including more than 3,300 held in administrative detention without trial and about 350 children. Detainees from Gaza, he said, face particularly severe conditions, including hunger, physical abuse, and prolonged solitary confinement.
Abu Nasr said these practices constitute crimes against humanity under international law and noted the growing global solidarity around the detainee issue, which has increasingly become an international cause.
He held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the safety and lives of detainees and called for legal action at the international level.
Palestinian human rights organizations report that since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation has enforced policies of deliberate starvation, medical neglect, and enforced disappearance against detainees, leading to dozens of deaths.
They warn that additional detainees may have died without their identities being revealed due to the continued practice of enforced disappearance.
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