DaysofPal – The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Thursday stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is manipulating prisoner lists and obstructing the commitments of the ceasefire agreement in order to sow confusion and prepare for the resumption of the genocidal war on Gaza. The statement came as Israeli forces killed at least 28 Palestinians on Wednesday despite the ongoing truce.
Nahed al-Fakhoury, media officer at Hamas’s Martyrs and Prisoners Office, said Israel was “tampering with the file of forcibly disappeared prisoners” and withholding crucial information from families.
He stressed that the delay in releasing the official list of detained Palestinians was deliberate, meant to create tension and uncertainty among relatives awaiting news of their loved ones.
According to al-Fakhoury, Israel initially agreed to provide a list of the prisoners it held in the early days of the ceasefire agreement. Instead, Israeli authorities stalled, altered names, and eventually withdrew acknowledgment of detainees they had previously confirmed.
He said there are eleven detainees whose presence Israel now denies despite testimonies from recently released prisoners confirming they were alive. One of them had even met a lawyer shortly before Israel retracted its acknowledgment of his detention.
The accusations were reinforced by Rami Abdo, head of the Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons, who said Israel continues to withhold the fate of hundreds of Palestinians held in secret prisons. Abdo told Al Jazeera Net that most of the names Israel recently released under the ceasefire framework were already known to families, who had been in contact with lawyers throughout the detention process.
The real crisis, he said, lies in the hundreds of individuals who vanished after being taken by Israeli forces during military operations in Gaza, with no information about their whereabouts.
Abdo emphasized that Israel’s continued concealment of detainees’ locations forms part of its broader genocidal war on Gaza. He explained that his organization has begun submitting detailed documentation to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, including identities, dates and locations of disappearance, suspected units responsible, and the steps taken to uncover their fate. The aim is to push the UN to intervene with the occupying authorities and any other bodies that may hold information about the disappeared.
He stressed that resolving the cases of missing persons requires stronger cooperation at both the local and international levels, as families face unbearable uncertainty.
The Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons has so far documented more than 1,500 disappearance cases in Gaza, covering various forms of enforced disappearance. Field teams continue to gather testimonies and evidence related to the remaining missing individuals.
Hamas maintains that Israel’s manipulation of the prisoner file is intentional and signals Netanyahu’s desire to reignite the war on Gaza. With dozens killed despite the ceasefire and hundreds still unaccounted for, Palestinian families and rights groups warn that the crisis of forced disappearance is deepening, while transparency from Israeli authorities remains entirely absent.
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