HaMoked in habeas corpus petition: surviving paramedic of Israeli attack in Rafah is being held in an unnamed facility and denied access to a lawyer

On April 23, 2025, HaMoked filed an urgent habeas corpus petition to the High Court of Justice (HCJ) against the military’s refusal to disclose the whereabouts of the Gazan paramedic detained March 23 in the fatal incident in which the Israeli military killed 15 emergency rescue and aid workers in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

A week before, HaMoked sent a request to the Israeli military on behalf of the paramedic’s wife to disclose his whereabouts. The military responded that the man was banned from meeting with a lawyer until May 7, 2025, pursuant to the amended Unlawful Combatants Law.

The amendments to the Unlawful Combatants Law were passed following the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 and currently enable banning a Gaza detainee from meeting with a lawyer for the first 45 days of his detention. During this time, Israeli authorities also refuse to inform family members of the person’s whereabouts. This refusal to provide information on a detainee’s location is contrary to its past practice and to Israel’s legal obligations. A petition against the Law, filed by human rights organizations, including HaMoked, has been pending for over a year now.

HaMoked stressed in the petition that disclosing the fact and place of a person’s detention are vital for upholding their basic rights, primarily the rights to life and bodily integrity, and that withholding this information contradicts international law and Israeli law alike, and leaves detainees vulnerable to violations of their rights, including torture.