At least three Palestinians have been abducted and forcibly disappeared by the Israeli army as they were trying to receive aid from Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution sites since June, two rights groups have said.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights and MENA Rights Group say two other Palestinians whose cases they have also documented, including a 16-year-old student, disappeared at GHF sites, but the army has denied taking them.
The groups have referred the five cases to the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, and say they are “only the tip of iceberg” among mounting cases of enforced disappearances at the sites.
The disappearances are the latest controversy for the US-Israeli backed organisation. At least 1,400 people have been killed while seeking aid since 27 May, most of whom were killed near GHF sites, the UN said last week. The GHF has said it only uses pepper spray or fires warning shots to control crowds.
Al Mezan and MENA Rights Group called for the GHF to be “dismantled immediately” and replaced by a UN-led initiative in coordination with Unrwa, the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees.
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Issam Younis, Al Mezan’s director, said: “Not only does the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation gravely violate basic humanitarian principles, it is also a death trap that is being used to perpetuate famine, one of the tools used by Israel to carry out their genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”
MEE shared the names, ages, locations and approximate times of the five alleged disappearances with the Israeli army, which said it would only investigate their cases if the individuals’ ID numbers were provided.
GHF said: “The false and exaggerated statistics used in these reports seem to directly align with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry. Aiding a terrorist organisation by amplifying their false propaganda is very disturbing and warrants investigation on its own.”
Fates unknown
The rights groups say the four men and teenager disappeared during a three-week period in late June and early July at different aid distribution points across the enclave.
The first was Ramy Omar, a 42-year-old father of four daughters. According to an account from MENA Rights Group, Omar left a tent where he had been displaced to with a group of young men around 9am on 17 June, and went to a GHF distribution site at al-Alam roundabout in Rafah.
After waiting for hours, a quadcopter flew overhead and ordered people to evacuate, saying that aid would not be distributed. “They were then suddenly surrounded by Israeli tanks and came under heavy, indiscriminate gunfire,” MENA Rights Group says.
The group that Omar was with at the site realised he was no longer with them, but neither they, nor his family, could locate him after searching in local hospitals and other places they thought he might be.
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Following an official inquiry that Al Mezan submitted on 6 July, the groups say the Israeli army confirmed that he was in their custody, but did not disclose his location and said he was banned from receiving visits from a lawyer until 2 August. His fate and whereabouts remain unknown.
The Israeli army also confirmed that Majd al-Jazzar, 21, and Ashraf Abdeen, 31, who both disappeared at a distribution point in the al-Shakoush area in Rafah’s Saudi neighbourhood on 9 and 11 July respectively, are in its custody, but has declined to disclose where they are being held or give them access to legal counsel, the groups say.
Abdulraouf al-Hems, 16, a 10th grade student, and Ahmed al-Akhras, 20, who was studying information technology at al-Quds Open University, both disappeared on 21 June at a GHF distribution point on al-Tina Street in the Morag area of northern Rafah.
In response to questions from Al Mezan’s legal team, Israeli authorities denied having the two students in their custody.
The groups have asked the UN working group to intervene with the Israeli authorities to clarify what happened to the five Palestinians and to immediately release those detained.
