On 2 November, families of Palestinian detainees requested information from their relatives at ICRC headquarters in Gaza. Their mobilization comes after Israel transmits a list of names to the humanitarian organization. The restoration of the visits remains at the heart of humanitarian efforts, again mentioned in Geneva on 2 November.
The gathering was attended by relatives of prisoners and representatives of Palestinian movements in western Gaza City. Afnan al-Jazzar, wife of the detainee Saïf al-Jazzar, represented the families there. She denounced the uncertainty about the fate of prisoners and described their treatment as collective punishment.
She was looking for information about her son Sobhi Abdelrahman. According to his testimony from the press, he had gone for food almost two years earlier and had not returned. Neighbors told him that Israeli soldiers had arrested him with other young men. She claims to have been without news since then.
Palestinian detainees: lists, but no visits
On 25 October, the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that it had recently received a list of Israeli authorities. Its teams had begun to transmit information to the families concerned. Spokesman Gilad Grossman said, however, that Israel had not yet allowed the resumption of prison visits. Communication of names and direct access to detainees are therefore two distinct approaches.
On 2 November, ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric met in Geneva with the Palestinian representative to the United Nations, Ibrahim Khraishi. According to the report of the Palestinian news agency, it reported that contacts were ongoing every day. They aim to restore access to detainees and visits. This report therefore does not announce their resumption.
The ICRC had already highlighted this distinction on 9 September. On that day, his delegates met with the authorities of an Israeli military establishment and visited some of his facilities. They had not met or had had any direct contact with any inmate. The organization presented this technical meeting as a step towards the resumption of its visits, which had been interrupted since October 2023.
In defence of the suspension, the Israeli government had invoked Hamas’ refusal to allow ICRC access to the hostages in Gaza. In June 2026, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the general ban on visits and information sharing.
Families contest the extent of information provided
The Palestinian Centre for Missing Persons and Victims of Enforced Disappearance found the list incomplete. In its statement of 25 October, the association states that some families learned that their relatives were alive. She requested the communication of all names and places of detention, including those detained in military facilities. She also called for an international investigation into the disappearances she attributed to Israeli forces.
The available balance sheets do not all measure the same reality. On 6 October, Palestinian institutions for the defence of prisoners estimated the number of detainees at approximately 9,300. These included 3,101 administrative detainees, without charge or trial. The report separately identified some 26,000 arrests in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem since October 2023. This combination of arrests does not represent the population still imprisoned, nor does it represent a record of the disappeared in Gaza.
Request for investigation of Ramla prison
On 1 November, the Arab League requested an independent international investigation into the violence that it denounces in Ramla’s Rakefet section. She claims that detainees from Gaza suffered injuries and burns during repeated interventions. This position follows accusations made public on 27 October by the Palestinian Prisoners Information Bureau. The Israeli prison administration had rejected the charges of systematic ill-treatment, in a reply reported on 7 September. This denial therefore preceded the new charges against Ramla.
The file had already generated a specific UN approach. In a letter dated 18 March 2026, special rapporteurs Alice Jill Edwards and Morris Tidball-Binz requested explanations from Israel. They requested, inter alia, information on conditions in the Rakefet section, deaths in custody and investigations. They insisted on independent inspections and the restoration of family contacts.
The Arab League now calls for unrestricted access by ICRC and independent observers to Ramla. She called for care for the wounded and the release of sick detainees.
Comments