The Israeli army has abducted Palestinian children and transferred them out of Gaza, a human rights monitor has said, calling on Israel to return the children to their parents.

The Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said on Tuesday in a statement on its website that it “takes very seriously the information published by Israeli Army Radio on 1 January 2024 regarding the kidnapping of a Palestinian infant from inside her Gaza family home by Israeli officer Harel Itach, a commander in the Givati Brigade, after the killing of her family members.”

“Following the news that the Israeli officer died on 22 December 2023 from injuries sustained during fighting in Gaza, a friend of Itach’s disclosed the kidnapping incident and said that the little girl’s whereabouts remain unknown,” it added.

Expressing “deep fear and concern,” it said the case of the Palestinian infant is not an isolated one.

“Numerous testimonies that the rights group has received say that the Israeli army regularly detains and transfers Palestinian children without disclosing their whereabouts,” it noted.

‘Horrific crime of kidnapping children’

Citing the “horrific crime of kidnapping children” as well as “the recent mysterious disappearance of hundreds of Palestinian detainees” from Gaza, the rights group highlighted that the international community must bear its responsibilities and apply pressure on Israel in order to ensure the safe return of all victims.

Citing “alarming reports” from many Palestinian families who have lost contact with their children, it noted that these reports are mainly from areas where Israeli ground incursions are occurring.

“More than 7,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children—are reportedly missing, amid chaos caused by the difficulty of removing bodies from the rubble, the near-total disruption of communications and Internet across most of the Strip, and the forced displacement of the vast majority of Gazan families,” it added.

Pointing out that while most of the missing cases are believed to have perished beneath the rubble of homes targeted by Israeli airstrikes, it said that some are believed to be lost on the streets or have vanished from neighbourhoods where Israeli army ground incursions took place.

Sharing testimonies of Rushdi al Zhaza, who was recently released from Israeli custody after being detained along with his family a month ago from their home in the south of Gaza City, the rights group said the fate of his wife and two children remain unknown.

“Al Zhaza explained that the Israeli army detained him, his wife Hadeel Youssef al Dahdouh and their two children, four-year-old Mohamed and six-month-old Zein, while they were inside their own house… Weeks later, the soldiers released Al Zhaza without disclosing the whereabouts or health status of his wife or either of their children.”

Sharing testimony from another eyewitness, Euro-Med said that a few weeks ago while being evacuated from Gaza City to the south of the Wadi Gaza Nature Reserve through the Netzarim checkpoint, Israeli soldiers stopped a 12-year-old girl with blonde hair.

The woman witnessed the girl’s parents attempt to intervene. The soldiers then informed them that the child would be taken away under the suspicion that she was an Israeli detainee, despite the fact that she was speaking Arabic and accompanied by her parents.

“The woman had to continue to walk and said that she did not know what happened to the child or her parents,” it said.

Displaced families report losing their children

Euro-Med also said that many displaced families from northern Gaza or the incursion areas of Khan Younis have reported losing their children during evacuations or bombings of homes.

It called for immediate action to end the arbitrary detention and forced disappearance of hundreds of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, reminding that states are required to consider enforced disappearance a crime punishable by law with appropriate penalties, given its extreme seriousness.