By Aysu Bicer
LONDON (AA) - Amnesty International expressed deep concern Wednesday about the whereabouts of Palestinians from the occupied Gaza Strip who are detained by Israeli forces amid reports of mass enforced disappearances.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has reported "numerous disturbing incidents" in northern Gaza, including mass detentions, ill-treatment and enforced disappearances of potentially thousands of Palestinians, including children.
The crisis came to light Dec.16 when OHCHR received alarming reports, prompting Amnesty International to launch an investigation.
Photos and video, verified by Amnesty International's Crisis Evidence Lab, depict the inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees in Beit Lahia, a city in northern Gaza. The fate and whereabouts of many detainees remain unknown, raising grave concerns about their safety.
Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, including workers and those with permits to enter Israel, have also forcibly disappeared.
Israeli authorities have confirmed the deaths in custody of at least six Palestinians, including two workers from Gaza in October and November.
"We are currently investigating the reports of mass enforced disappearances of Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces. The Israeli military must urgently disclose the fate and whereabouts of everyone that it has detained since 7 Oct. including Nidal al-Waheidi and Haitham Abdelwahed, two journalists from Gaza who have been forcibly disappeared for more than two months," said Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
"Israeli forces must specify the grounds of arrest for those detained, and make every effort to provide families of those in its custody with information, particularly in light of the telecommunications blackouts that have cut off Gazans from each other and the rest of the world," she added.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, killing over 20,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 52,586, according to health authorities in the enclave.
The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.
Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack, while nearly 130 hostages remain in captivity.