TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A Palestinian woman from Gaza, who was previously declared dead in early January 2024, was found alive in Israeli detention.
Bisan Fadl Muhammad Fayyad went missing on January 7, 2024, in Deir al-Balah, southern Gaza. The next day, her family was contacted by Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which had received a body believed to be hers.
Her father, Fadl Muhammad Fayyad, told Middle East Eye that the body was badly burnt and unrecognizable.
However, Bisan's identification card, wallet, and necklace were found on the body, leading the family to believe it was Bisan.
Several months after her burial on March 21, 2025, the family received a call informing them that Bisan was actually alive and detained in an Israeli prison, according to the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Displaced (PCMFD), which reported the development on Monday.
Since then, her family has been trying to confirm her detention.
On Sunday, Israeli authorities confirmed that Bisan was indeed alive. However, she was reported to be suffering from serious health complications, including a spinal injury that caused partial paralysis.
"When we found her belongings, we buried her and entrusted our affairs to God," her father told MEE.
The family received confirmation last week, through human rights groups, that she was detained. However, they have not received any direct evidence.
"We feel a mix of happiness and sadness. When we thought she had died, we bid her farewell and hoped she was in a better place. But now, learning that she is detained and paralyzed brings immense pain," her father said.
According to him, the family is now "trapped" between hope and loss. "In some ways, death might have been easier."
PCMFD emphasized 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."
Human rights organizations have urged international pressure on Israel to disclose Fayyad's fate, ensure her release, and provide her with proper treatment. They also call on Israeli forces to disclose information about all forcibly disappeared detainees—whether alive or deceased during detention.
"Not an Isolated Incident"
PCMFD noted that the revelation of Fayyad's detention also reflects how Israel manipulates the bodies and identities of Palestinian prisoners.
According to the center, Israel deliberately mixes documents and attaches them to decomposed bodies, making their identification challenging.
The group also demanded accurate identification of the unknown woman whose body was handed over to the Fayyad 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," the group said in a statement, as quoted from MEE.
The Fayyad case is not an isolated incident but an example of repeated suffering that requires immediate and firm intervention.
Amid intense Israeli bombardment and military obstructions to search and rescue efforts, thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been reported missing since October 7, 2023.
Although estimates vary and are difficult to ascertain, local authorities believe that at least 11,000 Palestinians—mostly women and Palestinian children—have disappeared. Many of them are presumed to be buried under rubble, detained by Israeli authorities, or missing under other circumstances.
Meanwhile, mistreatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons has sharply escalated since the beginning of Israel's genocidal war, with arrests, deaths in detention, and allegations of abuse, all reaching record levels.
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