Israeli Border Guard forces pursue Gazan workers in Hebron, south of the West Bank (Israeli Police)

Occupied Jerusalem -

Hundreds of Gazan workers who have remained inside the Green Line since the start of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle face an unknown fate, while dozens of them were martyred during their persecution and abuse by the Israeli occupation authorities, and their detention in special military centers established in the Negev, Jerusalem, and the occupied West Bank.

As of last October 7, there were approximately 18,500 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to work on the Israeli side with permits from the army’s Civil Administration, but the vast majority of them were deported to the Gaza Strip after being subjected to detention and investigations.

The Israeli security services estimate that there are between 600 and a thousand workers from Gaza who are still inside Israel and the West Bank. They claim that they pose a security threat and may plan to carry out armed operations against Israeli targets in revenge for their families who were martyred in the Strip.

A human rights report accompanied by statements and testimonies prepared by the Arab Workers Union in the city of Nazareth in the Galilee revealed the martyrdom of 44 Palestinian workers from Gaza during their period of detention in Israeli centers from October 8, 2023 until mid-February 2024.

Wahba Badarneh said that 44 Palestinian workers from Gaza were martyred during their detention and abuse in Israeli detention centers (Al Jazeera)

Attempts to uncover secrecy

The Arab Workers Union - which has been following the files and cases of Gazan workers since 2008 - sent a letter to the Israeli Prisons Commission and to the Inspector General of Police, Kobi Shabtai, in which it demanded that the circumstances of the death of Gazan workers in Israeli detention centers be revealed, with the aim of obliging the Israeli authorities to respond and deal with the cases of Gazan workers that had arisen. It is still vague and unknown, in order to pursue the file legally before the Israeli Supreme Court.

The union also began organizing a campaign before international trade unions to expose the crimes committed against Palestinian workers “as an integral part of war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people,” according to the union.

The occupation authorities are secretive about the circumstances of the martyrdom of dozens of Gazan workers inside detention centers who entered the Israeli side to work under official work permits before the war. They also refrain from disclosing the whereabouts of the bodies, as it is likely that some of them were returned to Gaza, while the fate of some of them remains to be seen. Vague.

In turn, the Director General of the Arab Workers Union in Nazareth, Wahba Badarneh, told Al Jazeera Net the details of the file prepared by the union, and pointed out that 44 Palestinian workers from Gaza who were in Israel under permits were martyred during their detention and abuse, and were subjected to repression and physical and psychological torture in the Israeli detention centers that were established. Specifically to assemble Gazan workers.

According to Badarneh, the union relied in its human rights report on statements and testimonies collected from 77 Palestinian workers, in addition to testimonies from the workers’ families in different areas of the Gaza Strip confirming that their children did not return from Israel.

The Palestinian human rights activist explained, “Since the Al-Aqsa flood, there has been chaos with information related to Gazan workers specifically, as permits were withdrawn from them en masse by the Israeli Coordinator’s Office, and thus they became without legal status, and the vast majority of them fled from Israel, which was pursuing them to the West Bank, where they were found.” Difficulty staying within the Green Line, in addition to the inability to return to the Strip.”

Israeli police checkpoints check vehicles for Gazan workers (Israeli Police)

Horrific persecution conditions

As a result of the state of emergency declared by Israel, thousands of Gazan workers were in harsh conditions that posed a threat to their lives, as they were forced to flee for fear of persecution, abuse, and torture by Israeli police forces. “And they were hosted in the West Bank by civil society organizations, charitable institutions, and the Palestinian Authority.” According to Badarna.

Based on the testimonies collected and documented by dozens of workers, Badarneh says, “The Gazan workers at the stations of pursuit and persecution and crossing military checkpoints were subjected to abuse, beatings, and psychological and physical torture in a sadistic manner. They were stripped of their clothes, in addition to the theft of large sums of cash in their possession.”

Badarneh explained that human rights organizations submitted a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court, asking it to oblige the Ministry of Security and the Israeli government to release Gaza workers detained in Israeli detention centers, and to allow them to return to the Gaza Strip through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing.

He pointed out that the Israeli authorities, after being asked to provide a comprehensive list of all workers, admitted that they were detaining 10,000 workers from whom their permits had been withdrawn in special military centers in the West Bank and near Jerusalem and the Negev, noting that withdrawing permits constitutes, according to international law, a prohibited act of retaliation that exposes the workers, as protected civilians, to greater harm. And danger.

Despite this Israeli acknowledgment, the testimonies and information received by human rights institutions - including the Arab Workers Union - confirm that the persecution and persecution of Gazan workers by the Israeli security services is still continuing, and that the fate of many workers is still unknown and their families do not know about them. Nothing.

Israeli security services continue to pursue and pursue Gazan workers inside the Green Line (Israeli Police)

Revenge against detainees

According to information and testimonies collected by members of the Arab Workers Union in Gaza and the West Bank from the families of the missing workers and from institutions concerned with human rights, the testimonies unanimously agreed that the 44 workers were martyred in the Israeli detention center after they were subjected to abuse and severe beatings, as well as to starvation, ghosting, and sleep deprivation.

According to research conducted by the Arab Workers Union, Badarneh says, “22 of the 44 workers were confirmed to have been martyred in Israeli detention centers between October 8, 2023 and February 20, as the Israeli authorities sent the bodies of the workers to Gaza via Beit Hanoun checkpoint.

Badarna pointed out that the research information also confirms that “there are 22 workers from Gaza who were arrested last January in the West Bank, without being deported to the Gaza Strip, as the families of these workers consider them missing and dead, because they did not obtain any information about them.” .

The Palestinian trade unionist believes that these cases of death and disappearance reflect the hundreds of cases of Gazan workers whose fate remains unknown, as the Israeli army claims that there are 600 workers who have not been returned to Gaza on the grounds that they pose a security threat, and may avenge the martyrs in Gaza with armed operations within the Green Line, according to Israeli allegations.

Source: Al Jazeera