Press Release
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Today, Thursday, 1 August 2024, the Egyptian Coalition for Human Rights and Development welcomes the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the arbitrary and prolonged detention and solitary confinement by the Israeli authorities against thousands of Palestinians since last October, besides their exposure to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including sexual assault on women and men.
It is worth mentioning that on Wednesday, 31 July 2024, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report entitled: “Detention in the context of the escalation of hostilities in Gaza (October 2023 – June 2024)”, which highlighted the following report:
- At least 53 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli military facilities and prisons since 7 October.
- Since early November 2023, the IDF has detained thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, mostly men and boys, but also some women and girls. They were generally held in military facilities and further transferred to detention facilities and prisons within Israel and the occupied West Bank. During raids on hospitals and schools used as shelters for internally displaced persons, the Israeli military detained large numbers, including at least 310 medical staff, as well as patients, escorts, and internally displaced persons.
- More than 10,000 workers and patients from Gaza, who were legally present in Israel on 7 October, were detained in Israel in the following days, 3,200 of whom were released and transferred to Gaza in November 2023, 6,441 were transferred to the occupied West Bank, while some 1,000 of them are still missing.
- Israel has continued to detain large numbers of Palestinians in Gaza and has arrested several in the West Bank as of June 2024.
For its part, the Egyptian Coalition for Human Rights and Development condemns the Israeli army’s policies towards Palestinians, considering that the army does not explain the basis for the detention of Palestinians in Gaza. In some cases, it claims to belong to Palestinian armed groups or their political wings. Moreover, the Israeli army does not provide information on the fate or whereabouts of many of the detainees.
The Egyptian Coalition for Human Rights reiterates its call for the immediate release of all Palestinians arbitrarily detained in either Gaza or the West Bank, as well as for the immediate cessation of the vicious war in Gaza.
