GAZA, (PIC)
The director of the Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons, Nada Nabil, said the center documented more than 500 cases of missing persons, while it received about 4,000 reports regarding missing persons in the Gaza Strip. Estimates of the number of missing persons range between 7,000 and 8,000 people, including those under the rubble and those suspected of being forcibly disappeared, she said, noting that about 1,500 cases are classified as enforced disappearance.
Nabil explained in an interview with the PIC that most of the missing are men and young men, while cases of women remain much lower, pointing out that a large part of the disappearances occurred while waiting for humanitarian aid, in addition to cases in areas for which military evacuation orders were issued or located near areas that were evacuated.
She added that the common denominator among many of these people is that they were in search of food or aid.
Documentation mechanism
Nabil showed that the center relies mainly on reports from families, where their testimonies are heard and accurate details are collected about the circumstances of the disappearance, with comprehensive questions asked to build a complete picture of each case.
She stressed that in some cases errors may occur in the description or testimony, but work is being done to review and verify them with high accuracy.
Field challenges
Nabil said that the most prominent challenge is the Israeli intransigence in dealing with this file, explaining that the center does not deal directly with the Israeli side, but rather through the International Committee of the Red Cross, yet the level of cooperation is limited and does not achieve actual progress.
She added that international organizations also do not obtain sufficient information about detainees or missing persons inside Israeli prisons.
She pointed out that Israel’s control over more than half of the Gaza Strip area means the existence of vast areas that may contain missing persons under the rubble or cases of arrest or disappearance that have not been revealed.
Difficulty of determining fate
Nabil stressed that there are entire families lost without any information, and that anyone still under the rubble is considered missing until his body is recovered and confirmed by the family.
She said that determining the fate of the missing could change significantly if equipment were available to lift the rubble, noting that the volume of rubble in Gaza is estimated at about 70 million tons, which greatly hinders search operations.
She added that many families possess only one piece of information, which is the loss of contact, leaving the fate of the missing between the possibilities of death, arrest, or burial under the rubble.
Absence of international decisiveness
Nabil concluded by saying that the fate of missing persons has not yet been determined, “neither by us nor by any entity working in this field.”
She explained that the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross is limited to training, directing work, and receiving some files, without the ability to reach decisive results.
She also stressed that cooperation with UN teams is still limited and routine, and does not lead to actual progress in this file, emphasizing that political pressure on Israel from countries and governments is the basic required factor.
“The file of the missing does not receive sufficient international attention,” Nabil concluded.