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Palestine has asked United Nations special procedures to act urgently over thousands of missing people in the occupied Palestinian territories, including women and children, and over Palestinian prisoners whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown.

In a letter sent yesterday to several UN working groups and special rapporteurs, the Palestinian Mission in Geneva, on behalf of the Foreign Ministry, called for investigations into disappearance cases and for Israel to disclose where detained and missing Palestinians are being held.

Letter addressed to UN special procedures

According to the Palestinian official agency WAFA, the Permanent Mission of Palestine to the UN Office in Geneva sent a letter yesterday to the UN special procedure mechanisms on behalf of the Foreign Ministry.

The recipients included the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the special rapporteurs on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories since 1967, on torture and on extrajudicial executions.

The letter said thousands of Palestinians, among them women and children, are still missing. Some are believed to be under the rubble of homes and buildings destroyed during what Palestine describes as the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, while the bodies of others have not been recovered or their fate has not been established.

Damage to records slows identification

The letter stressed that the destruction of civilian infrastructure and records, together with disrupted rescue and forensic services, has made it harder to identify the dead and to clarify the fate of the missing.

It called for an urgent investigation of disappearance cases and for UN mechanisms to press Israel to reveal the fate and location of all detained or missing Palestinians. Palestine also asked for the publication of an updated, comprehensive register listing the identities of detainees, the places and dates of their arrest and detention, their legal status and their health information.

Detention sites and health conditions kept secret

The letter also stressed that information is being withheld about where Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, including doctors and other health workers, are being kept, about their health conditions and about what has become of them.

It demanded the disclosure of the fate of Palestinian bodies held by Israel and their immediate handover to their families, along with the information and documents needed to establish identities and the circumstances in which the deaths occurred. Reports by Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations say prisoners are subjected to torture, starvation and medical neglect, and that dozens have died as a result.

Thousands still missing in Gaza

Thousands of Palestinians went missing after Israel launched what Palestine calls a genocide in Gaza in October 2023. Some were buried under destroyed buildings, while others were detained by the Israeli army without any announcement of their detention or information shared with human rights organizations.

The Media Office of the government in Gaza said in October 2025 that about 9,500 Palestinians in the area were missing, with some bodies found under the rubble and the fate of the rest unknown. After the ceasefire agreement took effect that October, bodies recovered from the rubble and the release of some detainees clarified the fate of a number of the missing, and some families learned that relatives they believed dead were alive.

The Palestinian Civil Defense Directorate said this month that more than 8,000 of the missing are still under the rubble and that recovering the bodies could take about eight years with the means currently available. Palestinian prisoner organizations said detention cases in Gaza since the start of the war number in the thousands, and that continuing military operations, the cut in information flows and enforced disappearances have made record keeping extremely difficult.

About 9,350 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, including 350 children and 90 women.

Key takeaways

• Palestine asked UN working groups and special rapporteurs to investigate disappearances and press Israel to reveal the fate and location of missing and detained Palestinians.
• Thousands, including women and children, remain missing, with many feared under rubble in Gaza.
• The Civil Defense said more than 8,000 bodies may still be under debris and recovery could take about eight years.
• About 9,350 Palestinians, including 350 children and 90 women, are reported held in Israeli prisons.