Gaza mother still searches for missing sons amid war-time uncertainty

Since June 29 2025, Ashjan Abdel Aal has been living in limbo after her sons Othman, now 17, and Sami, 13, left their displaced family’s house in Gaza City to fetch aid and never came back. Initial rumors of bodies near their former neighborhood and a later photo from al-Ahli Arab Hospital proved false, while a lawyer’s claim that the boys were held in Israeli prisons at Ofer and Naqab could not be confirmed. The family’s attempts to locate them through the International Committee of the Red Cross and local NGOs have been stymied by restricted access to Israeli detention facilities.

Gaza’s Government Media Office reports roughly 11,200 missing individuals, a figure echoed by the Palestinian Centre for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons, which warns that families are vulnerable to misleading information. Pat Griffiths of the ICRC notes that tracing requests are numerous but often delayed, leaving relatives in prolonged anguish. The Abdel Aal story highlights the human toll of the ongoing conflict and the challenges of accounting for the disappeared.