Farah Samer Zaina
Mondoweiss / January 13, 2025
For more than a year, Israeli authorities have refused to give any information about what has happened to Haitham Abd Elwahed since October 7, 2023 — leaving his family in heartbreaking limbo.
“Haitham is my heart and soul, my other half. We’ve always had each other’s backs since childhood,” Sameera told Mondoweiss. “As kids, we used to fight constantly, but if anyone tried to hurt either of us, we’d protect each other.”
The young woman remembers her brother, Haitham Jamal Abd Elwahed, as good-hearted, gentle, and generous, someone the whole family and his friends could always rely on. When Sameera was pregnant, he would always check in on her, getting her a cinnamon bun when she expressed pregnancy cravings, and openly wishing that she would have a baby girl.
On the morning of October 7, 2023, after Hamas launched its attack on Israeli towns on the outskirts of Gaza, then-25-year-old Haitham picked up his bag and told his family he was going out to work as usual. The Palestinian photographer didn’t tell them where he was going; he didn’t want them to worry.
It was only when his family saw pictures of him detained by Israeli soldiers all over social media that they found out where he had gone.
Along with his friend Nidal al-Wahidi, a journalist for An-Najah TV, Haitham had headed to the Erez crossing with Israel in the northern Gaza Strip to take pictures of the day’s momentous events. Along with Ibrahim Lafi from Ain Media and Mohammad al-Salhi from Fourth Authority news agency, they were the first Palestinian journalists on the scene.
Lafi and Salhi were shot dead while reporting, making them among the first journalists killed by Israeli forces in the current war, which has since become the deadliest conflict ever recorded for members of the press.
Meanwhile, Haitham and Nidal’s families have been desperately searching for their sons and brothers for over a year, praying for their release and hoping to hear from them amid horrific reports coming from Israeli prisons.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Haitham and Nidal are the only two Palestinian journalists whose fate remains unknown since October 7, 2023. As of December 20, 2024, the CPJ reported that 138 Palestinian journalists and media workers had been killed since the beginning of the war, while another 75 are confirmed to have been arrested.
Amid harrowing reports of torture, medical negligence, and death inside Israeli prisons, Haitham’s family, friends, and colleagues are desperate to find out what has happened to him, praying that he is still alive and will one day be released.
‘I’m afraid I’ll never see him again’
Haitham was an ambitious young man who specialized in multimedia studies at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG). He loved his work as a photographer, video editor, cameraman, and journalist for a number of news agencies, including Al-Montada and Ain Media.
In his second year at university, Haitham met Ain Media co-founder Yasser Murtaja, who soon became his friend and inspiration. But only a couple of months later, in April 2018, Israeli forces killed Murtaja while he was covering the Great March of Return. Inspired by his friend, Haitham decided to follow in his footsteps and reveal the struggles of the people of Gaza.
Haitham worked as a mentor at Ain Media and used to go down in streets with his friends and colleagues to film what was happening, particularly during wars, his friends and family said.
Haitham’s deep love of Palestine, Gaza, and his people pushed him to go above and beyond in his work. He had invested in a high-spec laptop for his work, and dreamed of traveling to attend photography training by Al Jazeera in Egypt.
His mother Itaaf prays for him every day.
“He had a comforting smile. I miss it. I’m afraid I’ll never see him again,” she told Mondoweiss. “My heart is torn apart.”
A broken family
Because Sameera was in the final months of her pregnancy, the family initially tried to shield her from the news that her brother had been detained by the Israeli army. She eventually found out through others what had happened to Haitham.
“The news broke down the family,” Sameera said. “I had never seen Mom and Dad like this before. They’d look at me, remember Haitham, and start crying again.”
From the first day, Haitham’s eldest brother Hesham decided to raise the issue to local and international human rights institutions. Alongside Israel-based human rights organization HaMoked, the family petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to force Israeli authorities to disclose Haitham’s whereabouts and the legal grounds for his and Nidal’s detention.
The Supreme Court, however, claimed that “Israel held no obligation towards residents of the Gaza Strip, given that it was a territory controlled by a terrorist organization and did not establish what were the legal framework and duties incumbent on Israel in holding Gazans.”
For more than a year, the Abd Elwahed family has been stricken with fear over Haitham’s fate. They constantly write about him on social media, asking if anyone had any information about him, and check the Palestinian Authority Commission of Prisoners Affairs’ social media posts related to Gazan prisoners, reviewing the lists of names for Palestinians killed or released from Israeli detention.
You may wonder how they can endure the videos of Gazan prisoners being tortured, attacked by dogs, starved, and abused by Israeli soldiers without breaking down at the thought of what Haitham might be enduring.
They cannot. They only have their prayers.
Over a year in the unknown
Many events have passed since Haitham’s disappearance.
On the third day of the war, October 10, 2023, Israeli forces bombed Hesham’s house in the Abu Mazen neighbourhood of Gaza City.
In December 2023, Haitham became an uncle to little Maisaa. His prayers for Sameera to give birth to a girl came true, but Maisaa, now one-years-old, had never met her loving uncle, never gotten a chance to be spoiled, kissed, or carried by the relative who loved her before she was even born.
In August 2024, Haitham himself turned 26, with his family still in the dark about whether he was spending his birthday behind bars or had met an even worse fate.
More than a year since his disappearance, Haitham’s friends and colleagues continue to demand his return. On the anniversary of his disappearance, the Social Developmental Forum, where Haitham used to work, called for his release. “We miss you so much. We miss your laughter and spontaneity. We miss your spirit and your presence among us,” the organization wrote on social media.
Amnesty International extended an urgent action campaign for Haitham and Nidal until December, demanding their immediate release.
For Haitham’s family, meanwhile, every passing moment brings more fear and sorrow.
Hesham, who lost his home early during the war, told Mondoweiss: “It would be a small cost if they would return Haitham. I just want my brother to come back.”
Farah Samer Zaina is a poet, writer, and translator, as well as an English trainer for continuous education at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) and an academic lecturer at the University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS)
Editor’s Note: Nidal al-Wahidi has been a previous contributor to Mondoweiss, providing video reports during the 2018 Great March of Return in Gaza
