For more than a year, Ashjan Abdel Aal’s life in Gaza City has been marked by grief and hope as she awaits news of her two missing sons, Othman and Sami. The boys disappeared on the morning of June 29, 2025, after leaving their displaced family home to visit an aid distribution point near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza. They promised their six-year-old sister Emarat they would bring her sweets but never returned.

Ashjan recalls that the brothers might have passed by their old home in the Shujayea neighborhood of eastern Gaza City to retrieve a pair of shoes for her, a place they had visited before. The family is among thousands displaced during the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, which health officials report has resulted in over 73,340 deaths and widespread destruction.

Rafaat, 41, a family member, explained that many people were forced to return to dangerous areas or visit aid points due to lack of options. The United Nations reported on August 1, 2025, that at least 1,373 Palestinians had been killed while seeking food since late May 2025, including 859 near aid distribution sites and 514 along food convoy routes.

Following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in October 2025, Rafaat was able to reach the area near their old home in Shujayea. He received information from a lawyer in the 1948 areas, who works with human rights organizations and the Red Cross, stating that the boys were alive and detained in Israeli prisons at Ofer and Naqab.

Ashjan, 36, expressed her longing: “I want them to come back. I want a day when I can see them, hug them and hear their voices.”

The family’s story highlights the ongoing humanitarian crisis and the personal toll of the conflict in Gaza.

Sources