International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances

Two years ago on this date, the IHL Centre released its publication “Unlawful Incarceration: Legal Analysis of Israel’s Military Detention Regime”, produced in cooperation with the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI).

This legal brief demonstrates that the legal framework Israel has been relying on to detain thousands of Palestinians from Gaza since October 2023, including the so-called “Unlawful Combatants Law”, falls far short of applicable IHL and IHRL standards on the permissible grounds for detention, procedural safeguards, as well as international oversight and contact with the outside world, including ICRC visits.

This creates an environment that is conducive towards torture, inhumane treatment, and violations of the prohibition of enforced disappearances.

Two years on, the analysis sadly remains highly relevant. According to data collected by HaMoked, as of 2 August 2026, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) was holding over 9,300 Palestinians from across the occupied Palestinian territory – the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza – of which more than 1,300 were being detained pursuant to the Unlawful Combatants Law. Human rights organisations report that as of June 2026, the IPS was holding over 300 Palestinian minors, including in administrative detention, without charge or trial. It is unclear how many Palestinians are still being held by the Israeli military in detention camps like Sde Teiman. Israel is also still detaining dozens of doctors and medical staff, such as Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the former director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. Systematic abuse and ill-treatment of detainees, inhumane detention conditions, as well as deprivation of oversight and contact with the outside world have been extensively documented across all places of detention.

Israel must end all unlawful deprivations of liberty and enforced disappearances, ensure that persons it detains are not subjected to acts of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, authorise ICRC visits to detainees, ensure adequate conditions of detention, and hold the suspected perpetrators of international crimes accountable.