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Arbitrary Detention of Civilians and Home Raids

Israeli War Crimes

International Humanitarian Law

Article 8 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.” In Article 8 of the Rome Statute, “Enforced disappearance of persons” is considered a crime against humanity when done in a system of widespread way. Arbitrary detention is defined as the arrest or detention of a person while there is no likelihood or evidence that violated the law by committing a crime. It is typically achieved by administrative detention, which occurs when an individual is arrested without any charge or trial. In this case, it is only not arbitrary if there is proof that or likelihood that they broke the law.

The Scale of the Crime

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reveals that a staggering 5,660 Palestinians have been detained from the West Bank, while an additional 3,000 individuals have faced detention in Gaza, as of January 5, 2024. It is crucial to note that these figures specifically account for detentions since October 7, 2023. Expanding the scope, the United Nations highlights a deeply concerning long-term trend. Since the year 1967, an alarming one million Palestinians have experienced detention, a distressing reality that includes tens of thousands of children. As of July 2023, only about 5,000 individuals still remained in prison.

In the following, we will highlight some instances of detention that occurred after the 7th of October.

Detaining Palestinian in Israel

Thousands of Gazans had jobs in Israel prior to the 7th of October attacks. Their work permits were immediately revoked in response to the attack and on the 23rd of October, the Independent reported that thousands of them have gone missing in Israel as they were rounded up, blindfolded and arrested. The Independent also reports that COGAT confirmed the detention of an unspecified number of Gazans, but declined to comment on the reasons for the arrests or conditions of detention.

Detaining Palestinian in the West Bank

According to AP News, Israel has arrested 3,450 Palestinians across the West Bank since the 7th of October as reported by the Israeli military. AP News also reports that over 80% of those detained were arrested with no charge or trials according to the Israeli rights group HaMoked. AlJazeera also reported on the violent nature of the arrest which involved raiding homes, blindfolding and tying hands.

To provide further insight into the character of detentions, consider the following instance reported by Hindustan times on the 17th of November, 2023 where a main was tortured then detained while streaming on Tik Tok, in front of his family:

As the daughter is screaming for her dad, the mother tries to calm her down by saying that this is normal.

The other two videos shown in the main entry of this crime are also examples depicting the brutal nature of the detention, no country arrests, even criminals, by pushing their heads to the ground like that. On the 20th of November, Al Wafa News reported that over 50 Palestinians were detained in raids at their homes in the same day.

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Detaining Palestinian in Gaza

The CNN reports a mass detention by the Israeli military of men who were made to strip to their underwear, kneel on the street, wear blindfolds which occured on the 6th of December. This was described by Israeli media and authorities as the surrender of 150 Hamas soldiers; however, according to CNN, at least some of the men are civilians with no known affiliation to militant groups which is evidenced by a conversation CNN had with one of their relatives and a statement by one of their employers.

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In another instance, Israel published a video of Palestinians handing weapons to soldiers to prove that they are Hamas militants. The video was shown to be staged by AlJazeera, by finding another take of the video where the same scene repeats but the Palestinian man hands the weapon with his right hand instead of his left hand, which shows that they were just obeying orders of the IDF. The fate of these individuals remains unkown.

Israel didn’t stop by mass detaining civilians in Gaza, they also turned to medics and doctors. The WashingtonPost reports that the Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday that Israel’s military is holding 93 health-care workers in detention “in inhumane conditions, under interrogation under torture, starvation and extreme cold.” Many of those detained were arrested on the 15th of November when Israeli forces storm Al-Shifa Hospital, strip-naked and arrest people inside, as reported by Mondoweiss.