The General Assembly of the Israeli Knesset has endorsed regulations that extend the prohibition of Gazan detainees meeting their lawyers for an additional four months, effectively providing "legal" cover for the enforced disappearance of thousands of detainees, stated Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor in a Thursday release.

As per the statement, the extended enforced disappearance of the detainees may serve as an indication of the extent of torture and violence they experienced during their arrest, interrogation, and detention.

In further detail, Euro-Med Monitor highlighted that providing "legal" cover to conceal detainees suggests the complicity of various Israeli authorities in human rights violations. Nonetheless, this legal protection holds no value, considering that enforced disappearance is deemed a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The Israeli occupation conducted an abduction campaign for #Palestinian men in #UN shelters, the men were stripped in the streets in the cold, and these men were taken to unknown locations.

The Chairman of the EuroMed Human Rights Monitor Rami Abdu also reported mass… pic.twitter.com/6aiXOktCtY

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) December 7, 2023

Enforced disappearance is described as “the arrest, detention, abduction, or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of the State," as per International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, "followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which places such a person outside the protection of the law."

Horrific testimonies 

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Since October 7, 2023, "Israel" has been implementing this practice against numerous Palestinians arrested during its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Furthermore, the human rights watchdog reported that it regularly receives daily updates from individuals in the Gaza Strip who have lost communication with their sons or other family members. Some have been confirmed to be in Israeli army custody, while in areas with Israeli incursions, other families report severed contact.

The human rights group has also received reports verifying the arrest of several injured and ill individuals from Gaza City's Baptist and Al-Shifa hospitals. Additionally, 99 medical personnel and eight journalists have been reported arrested, with their current whereabouts unknown.

The Euro-Med Monitor team observed that Israeli authorities have rejected inquiries from various human rights organizations, including Israeli entities, seeking details about detainees from Gaza. These detainees are held in recently established Israeli army detention facilities located in al-Naqab and al-Quds, where they face intense abuse, torture, and deprivation of necessities.

Read more: Ben-Gvir wants underground prison wing used for Resistance's detained

Torture is indiscriminate 

Testimonies from recently released detainees, shared with Euro-Med Monitor, depict a harrowing picture of their experiences with brutal torture from the moment of their arrest. The reported abuses include being compelled to stay fully naked except for undergarments, enduring severe beatings for extended periods outdoors in freezing and rainy conditions, physical assault, verbal and sexual harassment, electric shocks, a form of torture known as "ghosting", and deprivation of food and/or water for prolonged periods.

Euro-Med Monitor has reportedly received these accounts following the release of a recent group of detainees, approximately 140 individuals, which included eight women. The testimonies reveal that torture is indiscriminate, targeting women, children, and the elderly, with a primary focus on extracting information about individuals unrelated to the detainees.

The human rights group highlighted the alarming absence of an accurate tally of detainees from Gaza. While the Israeli army asserted that there are 2,300 detainees in Gaza, estimates derived from the accounts of those released indicate that the actual number of detainees is significantly higher. According to one detainee, Israeli officers directly informed them that there are approximately 7,000 Gazan detainees.
 
 Read more: 'New Guantanamo': Hundreds of Gazan detainees killed under torture