GAZA, (PIC)
In Gaza, people don’t sleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. They think of their beloved ones who disappeared under mysterious circumstances, helplessly wondering about the time when they finally figure out their unknown destiny.
It’s an open wound that parents, siblings, and other family members suffer while they wait for the return of their absentees.
Although hopeful to meet their missing sons, families sometimes fear that something bad might have befallen them.
With broken hearts, they crave the news of their missing sons, assuming they are martyred or imprisoned.
But the toughest thing that the parents and family members have to deal with is uncertainty.
Amid the Israeli siege and bombing in the Gaza Strip, not only young men disappear, but also stories and news about them.
Jamal Nabil Abu Namous and Mu’min Abu Jazar are two Palestinian young men from Gaza who went missing in separate incidents. Their families tasted similar sorrow, though.
On the 14th of April 2024, Jamal decided to cross the Netzarim Corridor to reach the northern Gaza Strip, without knowing that this trip would be the very last one.
In Netzarim, often called Israel’s axis of death, Jamal disappeared completely. No trace of him has been found.
Working in a supermarket, Jamal lived a normal life. His sudden absence turned his family’s life upside down.
“Everyday, Jamal leaves for work and eventually gets back home, yet on the 14th of April, he didn’t come back,” his brother Mohammed recounted, stressing that they searched everywhere and asked everyone they know about Jamal, yet in vain.
The health condition of Jamal’s mother severely deteriorated. But for his father, grief killed him, literally not metaphorically.
Months have passed. The family has been longing for meeting their son, or at least recognizing his fate.
The fate of Mu’men Abu Jazar, 17, is not yet acknowledged too. On the 8th of October 2024, he decided to head from Khan Yunis to al-Khirba junction in Rafah city while the Israeli ground invasion into Rafah had been ongoing.
After dawn, Mu’men left. Forever. Nothing could be heard but the bombing of airplanes and the shelling of the tanks. Since that day, not a single story was heard about Mu’men.
“Israeli tanks were deployed in the area, but Mu’men was determined to go there,” Mohammed Abu Jazar, his brother-in-law, pointed out.
Israel destroyed the house of Mu’men’s family. Not only his parents are deprived of a decent shelter, but also of tranquility and sleep. They weep day and night.
Their last ray of hope for them was to look for his name in martyrs’ records and in prisoners’ records. But in vain.
They have been seeking any piece of evidence or information that may lead them to the whereabouts of their son Mu’men.
“We are searching for any clue. We want to know if he is alive, dead, or even imprisoned,” his father said in a trembling voice, affirming that the fate of his son must be revealed.
At least 14,000 Palestinians went missing after Israel, backed by the US, had committed a brutal genocide against the Gaza Strip.
