For thousands of Palestinian families in Gaza, the ongoing Israeli genocidal war is not just about the huge loss of life, utter destruction and relentless bombardment, but the agonising silence of missing loved ones swallowed by Israel’s detention system.“We do not know if he is detained or a martyr,” the wife of Abdul Rahman, a young man who disappeared in January, told Al Jazeera. “We filled out many forms … but hope still exists.”This psychological limbo was highlighted this week by the case of Hamza Adwan, a 67-year-old detainee whose family was informed of his death on Sunday – four months after he actually died in custody on September 9, 2025.Adwan, a father of nine who had already lost two sons before the war, was arrested at a checkpoint on November 12, 2024. According to his family, he was detained despite suffering from serious health issues, including heart disease, and requiring constant medical care.The delayed notification of his death is not an isolated incident. It reflects a systematic policy of “enforced disappearance” – creating a total void of information that the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society describe as an integral part of the ongoing “war of genocide”.A system of uncertaintyIn testimonies gathered by Al Jazeera, families described a chaotic reality where official information is often scarce or contradictory.The father of Amro, a young man arrested in December 2024, lives in a cruel state of uncertainty. He was initially told by officials that his son had died in custody on December 13. However, released prisoners later reported seeing Amro alive after that date.“We live on hope that he is alive and well,” the father said, despite fearing his son may have been subjected to “unimaginable torture”.‘Legalising’ executionThe rights groups accused Israel of pursuing a policy of “slow execution” through starvation, medical neglect, and torture, aimed at making this “the deadliest phase in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement”.They warned that this surge in deaths coincides with Israeli political efforts to pass legislation approving the execution of Palestinian prisoners.According to the groups, this move aims to “legalise” extrajudicial killings and transform them from actions taken outside the law into a “legitimate and codified policy”.This legislative push targets a population where the vast majority are held without charge or trial.By the numbersThe Commission and the Prisoner’s Society released alarming new statistics illustrating the scale of the crackdown. As of January 2026, the total number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons has surpassed 9,300.Most are legally in limbo, including: