According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), about 6,400 Palestinians who have been reported as missing since the outbreak of the war in Gaza on 7 October are yet to be found.
Many are believed to be trapped under debris, buried without identification, or held in Israeli detention while others have been separated from their loved ones, who have been unable to contact them.
Since 7 October, the ICRC has reported more than 8,700 missing Palestinians in Gaza and has engaged with 7,429 Palestinian families to gather information.
About 2,300 cases have been resolved, meaning families have found their relatives, either alive or dead.
The ICRC said that approximately 1,100 new cases of missing people have been registered and remain unsolved since April.
“Each week we can receive anywhere between 500 and 2,500 calls to our hotlines, and the majority of these are requests for missing family members,” Sarah Davies, an ICRC spokesperson, disclosed.
“The level of requests fluctuates, sometimes depending on the situation in areas of Gaza – if there are hostilities close to large numbers of people, or evacuation instructions issued, our hotline operators receive more calls with tracing requests in the hours and days that follow.”
Sarah Davies
Davies added, “Unfortunately, in such chaotic situations, people can be separated easily. People are panicked, sometimes it is dark and difficult to see, if there are explosions nearby people flee and lose one another.”
Davies said that when people were injured and taken to hospital in an ambulance, their family members don’t always know which one they are at.
She stated that people can lose their phones, connections can be disrupted and sim cards are changed, saying, “There are untold reasons people get separated in a war zone.”
The persistent violence has severely disrupted communications, with hospitals coming under attack, complicating efforts for medical personnel to document casualties and identify the deceased.
The unrelenting warfare, coupled with movement restrictions and communication breakdowns, has created significant challenges in monitoring and locating missing individuals.
Moreover, access for forensic and human rights experts has been restricted, preventing the identification of victims.
“We know from our work in conflict zones all around the world that the most excruciating pain people experience is being separated from a loved one with no knowledge of where or how they are, or what has happened to them. People are fearful, they are anxious, and many of them feel helpless because there is very little they can do in this situation.
“It’s heartbreaking to hear the pain of people who are frantically trying to reconnect with their family members or hear some news about their fate and whereabouts.”
Sarah Davies
40 Bodies Found In Two Gaza City Districts
Also on Friday, the civil defence agency in Gaza disclosed that about 40 bodies had been found in an initial search of two Gaza City districts after Israeli troops ended an offensive.
Civil defence spokesperson, Mahmud Bassal said that the bodies were found in the Tal al-Hawa and al-Sinaa districts.
The agency and residents said that Israeli troops had pulled out after days of battles with Hamas militants but this was not immediately confirmed by the military.
“Up to now, about 40 bodies have been found,” Bassal said, adding that dozens more were feared buried under the rubble.
“There are many calls for help but we just cannot reach them,” Bassal said. “We just do not have enough crews.”
He noted that the Sabha medical centre, near the Gaza City district of Shujaiya, which provides care for 60,000 residents, had been destroyed in the new fighting.
“And the corpses under the rubble speed up the spread of disease,” he added.
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