DaysofPal- In August 2025, fifteen-year-old Ahmed Abu Awad left his home to search for food among aid trucks arriving at the Morag junction in the southern Gaza Strip. He never returned. Today, his name is one of many on a growing list of missing children whose fates remain unknown.
Families across Gaza live in a constant state of agonizing suspense. For two years, they have searched for any information regarding their children who vanished during the conflict that began in October 2023. Despite the passage of time, these families continue to knock on every door, hoping their loved ones might one day return alive.
Ahmed’s mother, Sawsan Al-Raqab, said her son joined thousands of people heading toward the Morag area between Rafah and Khan Younis on August 11, 2025, hoping to secure food for his siblings. Since that day, she has received no information about his whereabouts.
She said she has contacted every relevant organization dealing with detainees, the missing, and the dead. She has also spoken to former prisoners released from Israeli detention. None could provide any clue about her son.
Her grief has turned into a painful uncertainty. She said that not knowing his fate is harder than receiving confirmation of death.
One disappearance leads to another
Wafaa Ballour shared a similar story. Her younger brother Ashraf, 14, left home in November 2023 to buy basic supplies in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City. He disappeared during a period of intense military activity and siege in the area.
After exhausting all efforts to find him, the family lost hope. Later, a relative who had been detained said he had seen Ashraf near the area where the family had relocated. Ashraf’s older brother, Adnan, 23, went to search for him. He also vanished.
Wafaa now searches for both brothers, appealing for any information that could reveal their fate.
Ayman Saleh, father of 15-year-old Mahmoud, described a similar ordeal. His son left home during fighting in December 2023 near the Nuseirat refugee camp and never returned.
The family refused to leave their home at first, hoping Mahmoud would come back. They were eventually forced to flee under heavy shelling. Since then, they have searched everywhere.
“We did not leave a hospital intensive care unit or a morgue without checking,” the father said. “We contacted every organization dealing with detainees and the missing.”
The emotional toll has been severe. Mahmoud’s mother lost her ability to speak after suffering a health crisis following his disappearance.
Thousands remain unaccounted for
According to estimates from the Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared, the number of missing people in Gaza ranges between 7,000 and 8,000. These figures include individuals believed to be trapped under rubble and others suspected of enforced disappearance.
The center’s director, Nidaa Nabil, said it is difficult to determine exact numbers or categories due to the complexity of the situation and the lack of reliable information.
Children represent a significant portion of the missing. Around 2,900 children are believed to be unaccounted for. Of these, approximately 2,700 are thought to remain under collapsed buildings. Others may have been killed, buried without identification, or detained without official acknowledgment.
Efforts to document the missing face major obstacles. Large areas of Gaza remain inaccessible, preventing recovery teams from reaching sites where bodies may be buried beneath debris. Entire families are believed to have perished without records.
Nabil said access to these areas would allow authorities to recover remains and identify victims. She also noted that Israeli authorities have not disclosed the names of detainees, despite reports of secret detention facilities holding unknown numbers of people.
Data from Gaza’s Ministry of Social Development highlights the scale of the crisis affecting children. More than 21,500 children have been killed since the start of the war. The number of orphans has reached over 64,000.
Among them, more than 34,000 children have lost their mothers, while over 2,300 have lost both parents. Thousands more have lost their fathers or are the sole survivors of their families.
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