The Israeli occupation authorities have ended a tragic chapter of waiting for the family of young Majdi Abu Arra, from the town of Aqaba, north of the West Bank, by officially informing them of the news of his martyrdom. This announcement came after a year and a half of complete silence and the enforced disappearance of his fate, while the occupation authorities still refuse to hand over his body to his family for burial.
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner's Society clarified in a joint statement that the General Authority for Civil Affairs received confirmation from the Israeli side regarding Abu Arra's martyrdom. The statement indicated that the occupation deliberately concealed any information related to the circumstances of his death or the exact date of its occurrence, which deepens the suffering of the family, who repeatedly demanded to know the fate of their son.
For his part, Noor Abu Arra, the martyr's father, stated that the family received a call from the human rights center 'HaMoked' informing them that the occupation admitted to Majdi's death after a long legal process before Israeli courts. The father confirmed that the Israeli army had denied his son's presence with them for the past months, despite all attempts and communications made by official Palestinian and human rights bodies.
The details of the incident date back to December 3, 2024, when an occupation drone targeted a vehicle Majdi was in with two other young men who were martyred at the time. Since then, all news of Majdi has been completely cut off, and he entered the lists of missing persons whose legal or health status the occupation refuses to disclose, before finally admitting his martyrdom.
Palestinian human rights organizations considered what happened to Abu Arra to be a full-fledged crime of enforced disappearance, a policy that has escalated dangerously since the start of the widespread aggression in October 2023. Sources confirmed that these practices are not limited to the West Bank but include thousands of missing persons and detainees from the Gaza Strip who face an unknown fate inside Israeli detention centers.
The joint statement stressed that the policy of enforced disappearance is not merely a transient security measure, but rather part of an extended colonial system aimed at brutalizing Palestinians and breaking the morale of their families. Sources indicated that the continued detention of bodies constitutes a blatant violation of international laws and humanitarian norms that require respect for the dignity of the dead and the right of families to burial.
This crime comes amid an unprecedented Israeli escalation in the West Bank, where official data indicate the martyrdom of more than 1,170 Palestinians and the injury of thousands since October 2023. The number of arrests has also reached record figures exceeding 23,000 cases, amid human rights reports warning of the deterioration of humanitarian conditions inside prisons and the escalation of the slow killing policy.
What Abu Arra was subjected to constitutes a full-fledged crime of enforced disappearance, a policy that has affected dozens of detainees, especially from the Gaza Strip.
شارك برأيك
After a year and a half of enforced disappearance.. the occupation admits to the martyrdom of young Majdi Abu Arra and detains his body