Palestinian families voiced deep concern over the fate of their four sons who were kidnapped by anonymous gunmen near the Rafah border crossing, on the Egyptian borders. Youngsters Yasser Fathi Zanoun, Hussein Khmeis al-Zabdeh, Abdullah Sai’id Abu al-Jabeen, and Abdul Dayem Abu Labdeh were kidnapped as they tried to pass through the Rafah border crossing on August 19, 2015.
According to Anadolu Agency, Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated in the Gaza Strip to demand that Egypt disclose the fate of four Palestinians kidnapped last year in the volatile Sinai Peninsula.
Held outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City, the protest was organized by a local NGO that refers to itself as the “Popular Committee for Solidarity with the Palestinians Kidnaped in Egypt”.
“One year has passed since the abduction of our relatives while they were travelling through Egypt,” committee member Mohamed Abu Libdeh said at a press conference held during the protest.
“We pray for their safety and call on Egypt to disclose their fate,” he added.
On Aug. 19 of last year, unidentified gunmen abducted four Palestinians as they travelled through Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula from the Gaza Strip’s Rafah border crossing to Cairo International Airport.
Until now, their fate remains unknown.
“We call on international rights groups to take up the cause of the people of the Gaza Strip to ensure them the right of movement,” Abu Libdeh said.
“We also appeal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to shoulder his responsibility for the Palestinian people of Gaza,” he added.
Elsewhere in Gaza City on Thursday, the Islamic Jihad movement and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) organized a similar protest to voice their support for Palestinian political prisoners languishing in Israeli jails.
Scores of Palestinians took part in the demonstration to demand an end to Israel’s policy of “administrative detention” under which prisoners can be held for up to one year without charge or trial.
According to official Palestinian figures, over 7,000 Palestinians are currently languishing in prisons throughout the Jewish state.
Unidentified assailants stopped an Egyptian deportation bus and forced the four young men out before they dragged them to an unknown location. A year has passed by, and the fate of the four youths remains hidden in the vaults of a labyrinthine mystery.
