International Day of the Disappeared: the ICRC calls for respect of the International Humanitarian Law

Tel Aviv/ Gaza - On the International Day of Disappeared, the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Israel and the Occupied Territories highlights that four years after the 2014 conflict in Gaza, families of the missing Israelis and Palestinians continue to live the nightmare of not knowing what happened to their loved ones.

“For the families who still live in uncertainty, pain, and anguish only grow sharper as years go by. They have the right to know”, said Jacques de Maio, the head of the ICRC’s delegation. “The priority is for persons captured alive to be accounted for and treated humanely. As for human remains, they must be handled with dignity, identified and eventually returned to the families. This must happen without any further delays and conditions.”

The ICRC continues to do everything possible to ascertain the fate of the missing. It consistently raises the subject with the authorities on both sides at the highest level and maintains regular contact with the families to keep them informed about its efforts. It reminds the parties of their respective moral duty and legal obligation under International Humanitarian Law to clarify the fate of the missing people.

For further information, please contact:

Suhair Zakkout (Arabic and English), ICRC Gaza, tel: +972 59 9255381

 Alyona Synenko (English, French, Spanish and Russian), ICRC Jerusalem, tel: +972 52 6019150

Or visit our website; www.icrc.org/israel-occupied-territories

facebook.com/ICRCot (Arabic), facebook.com/ICRCil (Hebrew), twitter.com/ICRC_ilot, blogs.icrc.org/ilot