Palestinian woman declared dead found alive in Israeli detention months later
A Palestinian woman from Gaza, previously declared dead in early January 2024, has been found alive in Israeli detention.
Bisan Fadl Muhammad Fayyad went missing on 7 January in Deir al-Balah. The following day, her family were contacted by Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which had received a body believed to be hers.
Fadl Muhammad Fayyad, her father, told Middle East Eye that the body was severely burnt and unrecognisable.
However, Bisan’s identity card, wallet, and necklace were found on the body, leading the family to believe it was her.
Months after her burial, on 21 March 2025, the family received a call informing them that Bisan was, in fact, alive and being held in Israeli custody, according to the Palestinian Centre for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared (PCMFD), which reported the development on Monday.
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Her family has since sought to confirm her detention.
On Sunday, Israeli authorities confirmed that Bisan is indeed alive. However, she is reportedly suffering from serious health complications, including a spinal injury that has left her with partial paralysis.
"When we found her belongings, we buried her and entrusted our affairs to God," her father told MEE.
He added that the assumption was based solely on the items found with the body, as it was too badly burned to identify.
The family received confirmation last week, through human rights groups, that she was in detention. However, they have yet to receive any direct proof, such as a phone call from Bisan or confirmation from released detainees.
"We feel a mix of happiness and sadness," her father said. "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 paralysed brings immense pain.
'We feel stuck between hope and loss'
- Fadl Muhammad Fayyad, Bisan's father
"Now we feel stuck between hope and loss. In some ways, death might have been easier."
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.
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.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Israeli forces handed over the body believed to belong to Bisan Fadl Muhammad Fayyad. In fact, the body was found in Gaza and transferred to Nasser Hospital.
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