The Israel Defense Forces on Monday rejected allegations by a group of United Nations experts of “enforced disappearances” of Palestinians at aid distribution sites in Gaza, saying the military lawfully detains individuals who approach aid compounds after hours or in ways that endanger its forces.
“The claim of the forced disappearance of Gaza residents in aid compounds is baseless and entirely unfounded,” the military said in a statement, released days after UN rights experts voiced alarm at reports of such incidents at distribution sites run by the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Seven UN rights experts said in a joint statement on Thursday that they had received reports that several individuals, including one child, had been “forcibly disappeared” after going to GHF aid sites in southern Gaza, and that the IDF was reportedly “directly involved in the enforced disappearances of people seeking aid.”
The IDF Spokesperson’s Office responded that it “permits the [GHF] to operate independently and distribute aid to Gaza residents, and operates near the distribution zones to allow the distribution to take place alongside the IDF’s continued operational activity in the Strip.”
Within its activity, “suspects who arrive at the compound during hours when it is closed and approach the forces in a way that endangers them are detained and brought in for further questioning,” the military said.
“If the initial field questioning raises suspicion that a detainee has engaged in activity against our forces, the suspect is transferred for further interrogation in Israel,” it continued.
“Detainees for whom there is no justification for detention are released in the Gaza Strip, while those for whom grounds exist for continued detention, in accordance with the law, are brought before a judge and are entitled to legal representation as provided by law,” it said.
“When minors are involved, this is taken into account, and they are treated with the required sensitivity and in accordance with the law,” the IDF added.
The GHF said in response to the UN experts’ statement that there was “no evidence” of enforced disappearances at its aid sites. “We operate in a war zone where serious allegations exist against all parties operating outside our sites,” it noted.
The UN statement Thursday charged that the IDF was “directly involved in the enforced disappearances of people seeking aid.”
It was signed by the five members of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, along with Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on rights in the Palestinian territories, and her counterpart on the right to food, Michael Fakhri.
Israel’s military was “refusing to provide information on the fate and whereabouts of persons they have deprived of their liberty,” in violation of international law, the statement alleged. “The failure to acknowledge deprivation of liberty by state agents and refusal to acknowledge detention constitute an enforced disappearance.”
Albanese is an outspoken critic of Israel who has been accused of antisemitic and pro-terror rhetoric. An Italian national, she regularly accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza and has said that the October 7, 2023, massacre, torture, rapes and abductions carried out by Hamas in southern Israel must be put in a “context of decades of oppression imposed on the Palestinians.”