As part of the ongoing efforts by the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Enforced Disappeared to document cases of loss and enforced disappearance in the Gaza Strip, the Center documents the case of the child, Nour Raed Abu Mousa. Her case carries strong indicators of detention and enforced disappearance by Israeli forces in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to information documented by the Center from testimonies provided by the missing girl’s family, Nour Raed Abu Mousa, who was 16 years old at the time of the incident (born September 4, 2007) and resided in Khan Younis behind Nasser Hospital, went missing on Friday, January 26, 2024. The family stated that they were forced to evacuate and displace from their temporary residence in the Taiba Towers in Khan Younis towards the city of Rafah.
During their journey, they passed through a military checkpoint set up by Israeli forces. While the family managed to cross the checkpoint, Nour was isolated and detained within the checkpoint area for interrogation by Israeli forces. The family waited on the other side of the checkpoint for approximately six hours, expecting her release, but she never appeared. Since that moment, all contact with her has been entirely severed, she has not returned, and all avenues to reach her or determine her exact whereabouts have been exhausted.
The disappearance of Nour Abu Mousa at a military checkpoint controlled by Israeli forces, combined with the authorities’ continuous denial of her presence and the withholding of any information regarding her fate, places this case under the classification of systematic enforced disappearance. This deliberate ambiguity represents a blatant violation of International Humanitarian Law, which obligates the detaining power to disclose the detention sites of civilians and facilitate their communication with their families and legal entities.
Following Nour’s disappearance, her family immediately pursued all available legal channels and avenues, contacting the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestinian Ministry of Health. However, these efforts were met with a total lack of information or official records indicating her place of detention or disclosing her fate.
Based on the authorization granted by the victim’s family to the Center’s representatives, the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Enforced Disappeared has officially documented the case and submitted an official complaint to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, urging the international community to pressure the occupation authorities to immediately reveal the fate of Nour Abu Mousa and end the institutional denial regarding her case.
To this day, the fate of Nour Raed Abu Mousa remains officially unknown. Her family and the Center appeal to all human rights organizations and international bodies to intervene urgently to uncover her fate, end her family’s suffering, and ensure her legal protection. This case reflects the policy of unannounced detention practiced by the occupation against civilians, necessitating international action to hold those responsible for these crimes accountable and ensure the return of the disappeared to their families.
