UN rights experts voiced alarm on Thursday at reports of "enforced disappearances" of Palestinians at aid distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The experts blamed the Israeli military.
The seven independent experts said in a joint statement that they had received reports that a number of people, including one child, had been "forcibly disappeared" after visiting sites in Rafah.
Israel's military was reportedly "directly involved", they said. The Israel and US-backed GHF denied the claims, saying it operated in a war zone but that there was "no evidence of enforced disappearances".
"The claim that the [Israeli military] conducts armed operations in our facilities is simply false," the GHF said in a statement. "We operate in a war zone where serious allegations exist against all parties operating outside our sites."
The panel of experts include Francesca Albanese, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, who has been a vocal critic of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. She has been placed under sanctions by the US over accusations that she prompted illegitimate prosecutions of Israelis at the International Criminal Court.
The experts called the disappearances a "heinous crime" against an already vulnerable population and urged Israeli authorities to end the practice.
“Reports of enforced disappearances targeting starving civilians seeking their basic right to food is not only shocking, but amounts to torture. Using food as a tool to conduct targeted and mass disappearances needs to end now,” the experts said.
The Israeli military was also refusing to provide information on the fate and whereabouts of those who had disappeared, they added.
In recent months, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed near aid distribution sites run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to UN figures.
The GHF began operations at the end of May, when Israel eased a total blockade on aid supplies that lasted more than two months.
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to co-operate with the foundation over concerns that it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. The UN declared a famine in parts of Gaza last week, blaming "systematic obstruction" of humanitarian deliveries by Israel.
The Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday that four more people, including two children, had died of malnutrition and starvation in the enclave, raising deaths from such causes to 317 people, including 121 children, since the war started in October 2023.
While there have been frequent reports of deaths around GHF aid sites, accusations of forced disappearances at the distribution points have been less common.
“We fear that increased reports of enforced disappearances at aid distribution points will discourage individuals from accessing essential food assistance, further aggravating the risk of starvation,” the group of experts said.
“The international community cannot stay silent in the face of such an apparent constellation of abhorrent crimes.”
The GHF rejected the allegations calling reports of Israeli military operations in its facilities “simply false.”
“GHF unequivocally condemns enforced disappearances, wherever they occur and whoever is responsible,” a spokesperson said. “There is no evidence, nor any credible allegation, of a disappearance at a GHF site. The claim that the IDF conducts armed operations in our facilities is simply false.”
The spokesperson said the group operates “in a war zone where serious allegations exist against all parties operating outside our sites,” but insisted no such incidents had occurred inside its facilities.
The GHF representative added that the reports originated from sources “not considered credible by the US State Department,” citing recent sanctions against one of the individuals involved.
“This latest politicisation of our work by elements in the UN is simply an attempt to sabotage a growing, mutually beneficial relationship between GHF and various major UN agencies,” the spokesperson said.
The independent experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, include five officials from the UN's Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, as well as Michael Fakhri, the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food, and Italian lawyer Ms Albanese.
They are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the UN.
Israeli forces killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza on Thursday and wounded dozens in the south of the enclave, according to local health officials, as Israel intensified its bombing in the suburbs of Gaza city.
The military is preparing to take Gaza city, the enclave's largest urban centre, despite international calls on Israel to reconsider over fears that the operation would cause significant casualties and displace the about one million Palestinians sheltering there.
Many families in the city have been fleeing their homes, with most heading towards the coast, as Israeli forces bombard the eastern suburbs of Shejaia, Zeitoun and Sabra.
Israeli officials describe Gaza city as the last stronghold of Hamas, which started the Gaza war with its deadly October 2023 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people.
Almost 63,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have since been killed in Israel's retaliation.
