SAFA — Palestinian prisoners’ groups, families and human rights organizations have called for international intervention to protect Gaza detainees held in Israeli prisons, disclose the fate of those missing and secure the release of detainees and the bodies of those who have died in custody.

The appeal was made during a weekly sit-in outside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) headquarters in Gaza City, attended by families of prisoners, former detainees and representatives of Palestinian organizations.

Participants held signs demanding freedom for Palestinian prisoners and called for information about detainees from Gaza whose whereabouts and conditions remain unknown.

Speakers urged international human rights and humanitarian organizations to intensify efforts to reach detainees and monitor their conditions, warning that the continued lack of information about many Gaza detainees is deepening the suffering of their families.

Nashat al-Wahidi, a member of the Prisoners’ Committee of the National and Islamic Forces, said the committee was ready to cooperate with legal and human rights organizations in Gaza, the West Bank, the 1948 territories and the diaspora to determine the fate of missing detainees and recover the bodies of those who have died in Israeli custody.

Citing figures from Palestinian prisoners’ organizations, al-Wahidi said approximately 9,350 Palestinians were being held in Israeli prisons at the beginning of September, including 90 women and more than 350 children.

The figures include 3,176 administrative detainees held without charge or trial and 1,393 people classified by Israel as “unlawful combatants.” Prisoners’ organizations stressed that the latter figure does not include all Gaza detainees held in Israeli military camps.

Al-Wahidi said detainees have faced torture, ill-treatment, denial of medical care and family visits, and solitary confinement. He called for human rights and legal organizations to be granted access to detention facilities to monitor conditions and treatment.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, the number of identified Palestinian prisoners and detainees who have died in Israeli custody since 1967 has risen to 329, including 92 since October 7, 2023. Israel is also withholding the bodies of 100 identified deceased prisoners, including 89 who died after October 2023.

The organization has also said the fate of a number of Gaza detainees remains unknown.

Tehani Abu Duheir, representing the Higher National Committee for the Families of Gaza’s Prisoners, said the weekly vigil seeks to draw attention to reports of abuse, isolation and denial of medical treatment and basic necessities inside Israeli prisons.

“Behind every prisoner is a family waiting to know their fate,” she said.

Abu Duheir also highlighted the case of Moataz Nizam al-Atrash, 21, from Hebron, whose death in Ofer Prison was announced on September 16. He had been held in administrative detention without charge or trial since October 5, 2025. His family said he had no known health problems before his detention.

She called for full disclosure of the circumstances surrounding his death and greater monitoring of detainees considered particularly vulnerable, warning about reported medical neglect and denial of treatment.

Abu Duheir urged international intervention to protect Gaza detainees, ensure adequate medical and humanitarian care, end administrative detention, and allow lawyers and human rights organizations access to prisoners.

Palestinian prisoners’ organizations say an unknown number of Gaza detainees remain held in military detention facilities outside the published prison statistics, while the fate and conditions of some detainees remain unknown.