Palestinian woman declared dead found alive in Israeli detention months later
Bisan Fadl Muhammad Fayyad was first believed to have died while in detention after her family received a body said to be hers from Israeli authorities, alongside her clothes and official ID.
Months after her burial, on 21 March 2025, her family received a call announcing that she was alive in Israeli custody, the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared (PCMFD) reported on Monday.
Her family has since attempted to find out more about her detention condition.
On Sunday, Israeli authorities confirmed that Fayyad was still alive. However, she is suffering from serious health issue after a spinal injury that has rendered her partially paralysed.
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The PCMFD stressed in its statement that this incident "embodies one aspect of the greater tragedy experienced by thousands of missing and forcibly disappeared Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
"Their families are denied the most basic right to know the fate of their sons and daughters, and live between despair and hope, loss and waiting."
The human rights centre has urged international pressure on Israel to "reveal the fate of detainee Fayyad, ensure her release and provide her with appropriate treatment," as well as disclosing information about all forcibly disappeared detainees - whether alive or killed during detention.
'Not an isolated incident'
The PCMFD noted that the revelation of Fayyad's fate also reflects how Israel tampers with the bodies and identity of Palestinian detainees.
According to the centre, Israel is deliberately mixing up documents and attaching them to decomposing bodies, making it difficult to identify them.
First thing after the ceasefire? Find the dead, say Gaza's Palestinians Read More »
It also called for the correct identification of the unknown woman whose body was handed over to Fayyad's family and buried.
"We are facing a double crime: Israel is not content with depriving detainees of their rights, but is also practicing a policy of enforced disappearance and denying families access to the truth.
"Fayyad's case is not an isolated incident, but rather an example of recurring suffering that requires urgent and decisive intervention."
Amid relentless Israeli bombardment and the military's obstruction of search and rescue efforts, thousands of Palestinians across the devastated Gaza Strip have been reported missing since 7 October 2023.
While estimates vary and are difficult to ascertain, local authourities believe that at least 11,000 Palestinians - the majority of them women and children - are missing. Many of them are thought to be buried under rubble, detained by Israeli authorities or disappeared under other circumstances.
Meanwhile, the mistreatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons has sharply escalated since the onset of the war, with arrests, deaths in custody and allegations of abuse all surging to record levels.
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