Within the framework of the ongoing efforts exerted by the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared to document cases of loss and enforced disappearance in the Gaza Strip, the Center documents the disappearance of journalist Nidal Seheil Al-Wahidi. This case carries strong indicators that he was subjected to detention and enforced disappearance, or killed with his body withheld, by Israeli forces in the northern Gaza Strip.
According to the information documented by the Center through testimonies from the missing person’s family and the authorization granted, journalist Nidal Seheil Al-Wahidi, who was 32 years old at the time of the incident (born on March 12, 1991), works as a journalist and is a resident of Jabalia refugee camp (Tal al-Zaatar area – Haifa Street, near Al-Awda Hospital). He went missing on Saturday, October 7, 2023. According to the family’s statement and available documentation, Nidal was present in the vicinity of the “Erez” (Beit Hanoun) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip to carry out his journalistic work. Since that moment, contact with him has been completely severed, and he has not returned. All official avenues to determine his precise whereabouts have ceased, and his fate and location have remained officially unknown since then, noting that he was carrying his personal identification documents, his mobile phone, and his photography equipment.
The disappearance of journalist Nidal Al-Wahidi in an area under the military control of Israeli forces places this case under the classification of systematic enforced disappearance. Despite subsequent, unofficial information from released detainees indicating that he was seen inside the Ashkelon (Al-Majdal) detention center and later transferred to Ofer Prison, the authorities’ continued withholding of any official information regarding his fate and current place of detention constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
Following Nidal’s disappearance, his family initiated all available avenues and channels. They contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from the very first day of his disappearance and reached out to numerous international organizations. However, these efforts did not yield any official responses or information disclosing his fate or acknowledging his place of detention. On its part, and based on the authorization granted by the victim’s family to the Center’s representatives, the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared (PCMFD) has officially documented the case and submitted a communication to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), calling on the international community to pressure the occupation authorities to immediately reveal the fate of journalist Nidal Al-Wahidi and end the policy of denial regarding his case.
To this day, the fate of Nidal Seheil Al-Wahidi remains officially unknown, and his family, along with the Center, appeals to all human rights organizations and international bodies to intervene urgently to reveal his fate, end the suffering of his family, and ensure his legal protection. This case reflects the policy of unacknowledged detention practiced by the occupation against civilians and journalistic crews, which necessitates international action to hold those responsible for these crimes accountable and ensure the return of the disappeared to their families.
