As the usurping entity’s assault on the Gaza Strip continues, new layers of the unfolding genocide against the Palestinian people are being exposed—layers that go beyond bombing and starvation to include systematic practices that have led to the disappearance of thousands of civilians, including children and women, without a trace or any information to ease the anguish of their families.

Forced disappearance has become a terrifying phenomenon in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially in Gaza. According to estimates from UN experts, around 4,000 Palestinians—among them children, the elderly, healthcare workers, and journalists—have gone missing since October 7, 2023.

These figures are not just numbers; they are alarming indicators of the scale of violations committed under the guise of war, in blatant defiance of international norms and conventions.

The usurping entity has paved the way for this catastrophe through legislation that allows indefinite detention without trial under the pretext of dealing with so-called “unlawful combatants”—a deliberately vague term used to strip civilians of their most basic legal and human rights. This constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and human rights principles.

Adding to this bleak reality is the suffocating siege and devastating hunger that go hand in hand with these repressive policies. Civilians are suffering from a total lack of food and medicine. The displaced are forced to shelter amid rubble in destroyed schools and hospitals, while the usurping entity continues to bomb even aid distribution centers—leaving behind horrifying massacres of the starving who have nothing but the hope of survival.

In this context, the complete lack of information about detainees or the disappeared, and the denial of any communication with their families or legal representatives, not only violates the law—it causes psychological torment that, in some cases, rises to the level of torture for their loved ones, who live in limbo between hope and dread.

This compounded scene—of famine, bombardment, siege, and forced disappearance—leaves no doubt that the Palestinian people are enduring one of the most brutal and comprehensive campaigns of systematic ethnic cleansing in modern history, while the world either watches or remains silent in a resounding moral and humanitarian failure.

The responsibility to uncover the fate of the disappeared and end these practices lies squarely with the international community, which is expected to stand for justice—not to remain silent as it is extinguished. Civil society, particularly in Palestine, must continue to document every case and report it to the relevant bodies, despite the real fears of retaliation or further violence.

What is happening in Gaza today is not only a war against the people—it’s an attempt to erase memory, break the spirit, and silence the witnesses, so that nothing remains of the truth but ashes.