According to recent media reports and information arriving from human rights organizations in Gaza, hundreds of Palestinians have been arrested by the Israeli military during Operation Protective Edge. In the past few days, HaMoked has been striving
to receive information about the detainees from Gaza, but keeps encountering difficulties raised by Israel.
Today, July 28, 2014, HaMoked filed
an urgent habeas corpus petition on behalf of five families from Gaza, whose loved-one went missing in recent days during the fighting and were possibly apprehended by the military. HaMoked requests the court to instruct the state to uphold its duty to register the detainees, and notify their families of their whereabouts and legal status.
HaMoked asserts that the right to notification about a person's arrest and whereabouts is a basic right of both the detainee and his family, and is imperative for the exercise of other rights, such as the right to counsel and the right to intervene over detention conditions. HaMoked adds that this legal obligation does not cease to be binding during fighting, and that the state must uphold it also in turbulent times.
