RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) warned in a statement against the Israeli occupation’s continued crime of enforced disappearance committed against Gaza detainees, who were detained after October 7.

This came in response to the Israeli Knesset’s approval – in the second and third readings – of an extension of an emergency order that allows Israeli authorities to deny detained Palestinians from Gaza the option to meet with lawyers, according to a report by Haaretz.

The order, which allows Israel to prevent prisoners from meeting with a lawyer for up to 180 days, was extended for an additional four months.

PPS said that through this step, the occupation aims to carry out additional crimes against Gaza detainees without any effective oversight and to use these regulations as a cover for its continuing crimes against them.

PPS stressed that the crime of enforced disappearance is one of the most serious offenses committed against them today, which it maintained comes as part of the genocide a
nd all-out Israeli aggression on Gaza.

With every day that passes without allowing Gaza detainees to meet with their lawyers and the occupation’s insistence on concealing information regarding their fate, places of detention, and state of health, the number of harrowing testimonies of released detainees will continue to increase, said the ministry.

The testimonies contained stories of abuse and torture against children, women, and the elderly, in addition to starvation and humiliation, and the dehumanizing detention in inhumane conditions.

PPS stressed that all calls made to many international relevant institutions, including organizations dedicated to addressing the concerns of prisoners, to uncover any information about Gaza detainees were to no avail and did not yield any results that could comfort their families.

Prisoners’ institutions have revealed in several previous statements, which were based on the testimonies of detainees, who were held in sections close to the sections of Gaza detainees after
their release from the Ofer Israeli prison, the high level of torture committed against the Gaza detainees.

PPS said that aside from the occupation’s confession to having executed one of the Gaza detainees, several detainees in the army Sde Teman camp, near Beersheba, were announced dead in mysterious circumstances, in addition to the killing of two Gaza workers. The identity of only one of the two workers was revealed by the occupation.

Source: Palestine news and Information Agency – WAFA