Sally Ibrahim
The New Arab / August 11, 2026
Gaza – Since October 2023, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, while thousands remain missing.
In Gaza, disappearance often leaves families at a loss, unsure whether their loved one was killed, arrested, buried beneath rubble or is alive somewhere beyond their reach.
Usually, families search for hospital records, inquire about unidentified bodies, contact the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and prisoners’ rights groups, and turn to social media for any clues.
Some wait for months; others spend years without answers.
For the family of Palestinian journalist Ehab Diab, the uncertainty ended on Sunday, nearly two years after his disappearance.
But the answer was not the one they had hoped for.
According to his family, Diab (36) was arrested on 12 December 2023, in the Lababidi area of Gaza City during Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Since then, his family lost contact with him and received no information about where he was being held, whether he was receiving medical care or whether he was still alive.
“Over two years, we repeatedly contacted organisations concerned with Palestinian prisoners, international institutions and the ICRC, hoping someone would provide information about Ihab,” his brother Mohammed Diab remarked to The New Arab.
“Instead, we spent almost two years waiting. Israel prevented us from knowing anything about his fate,” the brother said.
The family hoped Ehab would return to his wife and children, but that hope ended when the Palestinian Authority’s Commission informed them that Israel reported Ehab had died in prison.
According to the information provided to the commission, he was believed to have died on 18 September 2024, nearly two years before his family learned of his death.
“Until Saturday, we lived in hope that my brother would return to his children, but everything ended now,” his brother remarked.
Ehab was a journalist, a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Gaza, a husband and father of two. Two brothers of his were killed in previous Israeli attacks.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, more than 250 journalists have been arrested or detained since the beginning of the war, while more than 260 have been killed in Gaza.
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said Ehab’s death brought to 328 the number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli prisons since 1967, including 91 since 7 October 2023, among them 53 from Gaza.
For the Diab family, however, the figures cannot capture two years of uncertainty.
A photograph brings relief, but leaves questions
A single picture released by an Israeli female soldier was the first indication for Mahmoud Drimli’s family that he might still be alive, while raising new questions about his whereabouts.
Mahmoud (24), disappeared on 2 November 2024, while attempting to return from southern Gaza to the north after a period of displacement.
His father, Attallah, searched hospitals, asked about unidentified bodies, contacted the ICRC and prisoners’ rights organisations, and approached media outlets for information.
Every attempt ended without an answer.
Then, on 29 July, the family saw a photograph circulating on social media showing a young Palestinian man, handcuffed and blindfolded, standing between two Israeli female soldiers.
They recognised Mahmoud.
“When I saw the photo, my heart was relieved because I felt that my son was still alive,” his mother, Aida Drimli, told TNA.
“But at the same time, my heart broke when I saw him handcuffed and blindfolded. That sight was devastating for any mother,” the mother added.
The picture gave the family reason to believe Mahmoud had survived, but it did not tell them where he was being held, whether he was receiving medical treatment or when he might return.
“It was an indescribable joy, but a bittersweet one because we still don’t know where he is or how he is doing,” his mother explained.
“A mother never forgets her son,” she added. “Every day I prayed to God to bring him back to me safe and sound. I missed him so much, and all I wished for was to hold him in my arms again.”
When a family lost its men
For Um Mohammed al-Harazeen, from the al-Shuja’iyya neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City, the disappearance of her husband and son added to her pain. Three of her sons were killed by Israeli attacks.
On 23 January 2024, the family was forced to flee al-Shuja’iyya toward southern Gaza. During the displacement, Israeli forces stormed the school where they were displaced and separated men from women and children, leaving Um Mohammed to move south while her husband and son remained in the north.
Her 17-year-old son, Ahmed, chose to stay with his ailing father.
For months, Umm Mohammed did not know whether her husband and son had been killed, arrested or remained alive.
She later lost three of her other sons in an Israeli attack after they returned to Gaza following the ceasefire. Um Mohammed was with them when the attack occurred and survived, while her three sons were killed.
“I wished if I was killed with my sons,” she remarked to TNA. “But the life wants me to stay and protect my grandchildren.”
She has no information about the fate or whereabouts of her husband and her soon, Ahmed.
“The hardest feeling is not knowing their fate. If we knew they were killed and buried them, it would be painful, but at least we would know where they are. We don’t know if they are alive, arrested or killed in the street,” she said.
The family has repeatedly sought information from institutions and authorities but received the same response: “We don’t have any information.”
Across Gaza, thousands of families are facing this uncertainty.
Gaza-based human rights organisations, including the Al-Dameer Foundation, estimate the number of those missing are at around 9,500.
Meanwhile, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israeli security officials were holding approximately 1,700 Palestinian bodies, citing two unnamed sources.
A Palestinian human rights organisation reported in October 2025 that Israel was holding approximately 1,500 Palestinian bodies at the Sde Teiman military camp alone.
Since October 2023, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, while thousands remain missing.
Sally Ibrahim is The New Arab’s correspondent from Gaza
