TEL AVIV, Thursday, March 7, 2024 (WAFA) – The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz revealed today that 27 Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip died or were killed in mysterious conditions while in custody at the Israeli Sde Teiman base, the Anatot base in Jerusalem, or during investigations in other facilities within the 1948 Territories.
According to the investigation conducted by the newspaper, the Israeli occupation army has not provided any information regarding the circumstances of their demise.
The newspaper pointed out that the arrest of citizens from the Gaza Strip was carried out under the Unlawful Combatants Law, which allows Israel to "imprison anyone without trial if they engage in hostile activities against the state, and are not defined as prisoners of war in Israel."
Since the beginning of the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza, the occupation government has exploited the law to solidify the crime of forced disappearance against Gaza detainees.
According to information provided by the Israeli Prison Administration to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the occupation authorities are currently detaining about 793 citizens from Gaza under this law, in addition to several hundred others held under criminal procedures, and others still in custody by the army.
In response to the reports published by the Hebrew media on this matter, the head of the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority, Qaddura Fares, stated, "Reports by the Hebrew media about the martyrdom of 27 detainees from the Gaza Strip in detention centers and prisons is a preliminary result of the crime of forced disappearance practiced by the occupation state against detainees from the southern provinces."
Fares added in a press statement, "This tragedy represents the prelude to the announcement of other heinous crimes committed by the occupation state against detainees in Gaza over five consecutive months. Their enforced disappearance was essentially aimed at committing numerous premeditated crimes. All institutions of the occupation state, including its political, security, and military system, are involved."
Fares stated that the silence of the international community has encouraged the Israeli occupation to persist in committing many crimes that are still ongoing.
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