Dozens of Palestinians held a protest in Gaza City yesterday to demand information about the fate of people who have been missing since the outbreak of the conflict between Hamas and Israel on October 7, 2023.
The protest, organised by the Palestinian NGO Network outside the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in western Gaza City, coincided with International Day of the Disappeared, observed yesterday.
Participants held photos of missing people and banners reading, ‘The Missing: Stories Awaiting the Truth’.
Mohammed Salha, director of the network, said the issue of missing persons was ‘not merely a matter of statistics’, but involved the names, dreams and stories of families seeking truth and justice.
Speaking at the protest, Salha said the network had documented more than 11,200 registered missing persons, adding the actual number was believed to be higher.
He called for the establishment of an independent and transparent mechanism to search for missing persons, a unified national database and greater support for forensic medicine and specialised laboratories to identify human remains.
Separately, Palestinian groups condemned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to the women’s section of Damon Prison, during which he filmed female Palestinian prisoners and posted a video of the visit on his X account.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, a non-governmental organisation, said in a statement that Ben-Gvir’s visit and filming of prisoners reflect a systematic policy of targeting Palestinian detainees and exploiting their suffering for political propaganda.
In the one-minute-44-second video, an unidentified Palestinian female prisoner described detention conditions, saying they had gone three days without showers, lacked medical treatment and wore unclean clothes.
Ben-Gvir responded through a translator, saying, “The good conditions that used to exist in the prisons are over.”
The Islamic Jihad said in a statement that the Israeli government bore full responsibility for the safety of the female prisoners, urging international institutions to act to end violations against them.
Hamas, in a separate statement, warned against turning prisons into arenas for ‘violations, humiliation, threats, torture, and murder’, and called for effective action to support Palestinian prisoners.
Separately, an Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians, including a three-year-old child, in the central Gaza Strip yesterday, health officials said.
Gaza medics said the Israeli air strike near a bakery in Deir Al Balah killed one man, Hussam Nusair, a three-year-old boy, Tayyem Hamdan, and wounded several others.
The Israeli military said it attacked and killed a Hamas fighter.
It said that Nusair advanced attacks against Israeli forces and civilians.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the military’s claim.
An October 2025 US-backed ceasefire halted major fighting in the shattered territory, but it failed to end strikes by the Israeli military, which it said aimed to thwart attacks by Hamas and other Gaza groups.
Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire and undermining efforts to implement a broader plan by US President Donald Trump to end the Gaza conflict, which also includes Israeli withdrawals and Hamas disarmament.
More than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect.
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