The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Amnesty International said that Israel is arresting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip en masse, without publishing information about where many of them are being held or why. They called, in separate statements, for urgent investigations into violations related to “forcible disappearances.”

The organization said in a statement that it had received many disturbing reports from northern Gaza about mass arrests, ill-treatment and forced disappearance of thousands of Palestinian men and boys, and a number of women and girls, at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces, most of whom were arrested while trying to move south or were arrested. He took them during operations on their homes, hospitals, schools and other places of refuge.

It is reported that among the detainees are children as young as 12 years old and people as old as 70 years old. What is most disturbing is that there are numerous reports that many of the detainees have been subjected to serious ill-treatment, which in some cases may reach the level of torture. This includes allegations that many were forced to strip except for their underwear, were blindfolded and handcuffed tightly, and photographed in deliberately humiliating positions before being transported, without clothes and with little food or water, to unknown places of detention. Reports also allege that the IDF instructed remaining civilians, usually women and children, to move south before their shelters were destroyed, in many cases resulting in multiple displacements. Reliable information has also been received indicating that approximately 140 women and girls have been arbitrarily detained and are currently being held in undisclosed locations.

The families of the detainees were not provided with any information about the fate or whereabouts of their loved ones or any reasons for their detention, which exacerbated their feelings of pain and fear.

The IDF claims that it only arrests Palestinians “affiliated with Hamas” and that it has “good reasons” to suspect all Palestinians who have remained in northern Gaza contrary to orders from the IDF to move south – raising concerns about collective punishment.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights notes that Israel's instructions to civilians to move to the south in no way exempt Israel from its obligations under international humanitarian law. There are still tens of thousands of civilians in northern Gaza, and Israel maintains its obligations to ensure their respect and protection. International humanitarian law requires that civilians be detained only for compelling security reasons. Torture and other ill-treatment, including outrages on personal dignity, are strictly prohibited under international law, regardless of the detainee's status.

Israel must take urgent steps to ensure that civilians are detained only under the law – and that all persons arrested or detained are treated humanely and with dignity, with full respect for their rights to due process. Israel must also implement measures to enable families of detained persons to access all available information about their fate and location. All cases of ill-treatment or torture of arrested or detained persons must be fully and transparently investigated, and if proven to have occurred, the necessary measures must be taken to ensure accountability and prevent their recurrence.

It is of grave concern that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has received an increasing number of reports of civilian killings, including apparent extrajudicial executions, in places of refuge, particularly schools. Such incidents may constitute war crimes and must be investigated immediately and fully.

The organization's statement indicates that on the morning of December 12, the Israeli Defense Forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, after several days of siege and bombing of the hospital. The hospital was reportedly hosting about 3,000 displaced people, in addition to patients and medical staff. The IDF reportedly detained between 1,000 and 1,200 Palestinians, mostly men and boys between 16 and 65 years of age, including medical staff, patients and internally displaced persons, and transferred them to an unknown destination. More than 70 medical personnel, including Dr. Ahmed Al-Kahlot, the general director of the hospital, are still detained.

On December 7, the Israeli occupation army reportedly stormed Beit Lahia mixed school, which was housing approximately 3,000 to 4,000 displaced people. The IDF arrested dozens of male Palestinians, including older men, boys and a well-known Palestinian journalist. The IDF then blindfolded the detainees and stripped them except for their underwear before forcing them to sit on the street outside despite the cold weather. After filming the detainees on video and taking photos, they were forced into trucks, still naked, and transported to unknown destinations. On December 9, footage of dozens of semi-naked Palestinian men surrounded by IDF tanks was published in the media. The IDF claimed that Hamas fighters were surrendering their weapons. The men were reportedly taken to an unknown destination, while the children and women were instructed to move south. Later, it was reported that IDF soldiers set fire to the school.

On 12 December, the World Health Organization expressed concern about the lengthy IDF screening operation and detention of a Palestine Red Crescent Society staff member during a joint mission to supply and evacuate Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza. The World Health Organization reported that one of the wounded Palestinians died while being transported to the south while the IDF obstructed the convoy's movement. The WHO also reported that the IDF arrested one of the mission's staff, an employee of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, and "forced him to kneel at gunpoint... (He was) taken out of sight, where he was reportedly harassed and beaten." He was stripped of his clothes and assaulted. He was released later that night, but “left to walk south with his hands tied behind his back, without clothes or shoes.”