‘New Yorker’ Writer Missing After Reportedly Being Taken by Israeli Forces

Facebook/Mosab Abu Toha

Mosab Abu Toha, a Palestinian poet who has written several articles for The New Yorker magazine over the past month, has reportedly gone missing after he was detained by Israeli forces this month.

In a notice on Monday, The New Yorker announced, “Over the weekend, Israeli forces reportedly detained Abu Toha in central Gaza. His whereabouts are now unknown. The New Yorker joins other organizations in calling for his safe return.”

According to the Washington Post, which spoke to Toha’s colleagues and a lawyer who had been in contact with Toha’s wife, he was “attempting to evacuate to southern Gaza with his family when he was arrested by the Israeli military at a checkpoint,” along with 200 others.

Several colleagues and friends of Toha, however, have claimed that he was not arrested and was instead kidnapped by Israeli forces.

“It’s very scary,” said journalist Laura Albast, a friend of Toha’s, to the Washington Post. “We don’t know where he is.”

In a post on social media, Albast added:

Israeli forces KIDNAPPED my friend, the award-winning brilliant poet from Gaza, Mosab Abu Toha (@MosabAbuToha). His brother says Mosab and his young family were evacuating to the south as they have been asked by @StateDept to head to the Rafah Crossing to evacuate because Mosab’s youngest son, Mostafa who is 3.5 years old, is a U.S. citizen.

As they approached a checkpoint heading toward the south, Israeli soldiers snatched Mosab from his family and no one has heard anything about him since.

Writer Jehad Abusalim, another friend of Toha’s, made similar claims.

“Mosab was kidnapped by Israeli forces as he fled northern Gaza with his wife and children. He was holding his American-born son in his arms when the soldiers took him,” he wrote.

The Nation‘s Palestine correspondent Mohammed El-Kurd also alleged that Toha was “kidnapped—not ‘arrested'” by Israeli forces.

“New Yorker staff omitted this info from the memo. Despicable,” he protested.

Since the beginning of Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza last month, Toha has contributed several articles to The New Yorker.

In his most recent article, dated Nov. 6, Toha wrote, “I feel like I am in a cage. I’m being killed every day with my people. The only two things I can do are panic and breathe. There is no hope here.”

In another article, Toha questioned, “One idea in particular haunts me, and I cannot push it away. Will I, too, become a statistic on the news? I imagine myself dying while hearing my own name on the radio.”

In a statement on Monday, PEN America said it was “concerned” by reports that Toha had been detained.

“We are seeking more details and call for his protection,” the organization declared.

At least 50 journalists have reportedly been killed in Gaza since the beginning of Israel’s bombing campaign and war on Hamas.

On Friday, former Mossad division chief Rami Igra told CNN there was no such thing as a “noncombatant population in the Gaza Strip.”