After a year and a half of his declared martyrdom.. A Gazan family receives news of their son being alive in occupation prisons

A state of shock mixed with tears prevailed in the Abu Shaar family home in Gaza City, after the mother, Maha Abu Shaar, received a phone call from a lawyer confirming that her son Eid was still alive. This news came after a year and a half of ambiguity surrounding the young man's fate, as the family and surrounding parties firmly believed that he had been martyred during the ongoing war.

The chapters of suffering began on December 15, 2024, when the young man Eid went out to look for a job near the Netzarim axis area in the central Gaza Strip and has not returned since. From that moment, all means of communication with him were cut off, which led the family on an arduous search journey that included hospitals and international Red Cross centers without success, only to later receive unofficial news of his martyrdom.

The mother bitterly recounts how she lived long months of pain, but she categorically refused to perform the absentee funeral prayer for her son, emphasizing that a mother's intuition guided her towards hope. As soon as she heard the lawyer's voice confirming the news, the mother entered a hysterical crying fit, pleading for confirmation of the information that thousands of Palestinian families, who still do not know the fate of their missing children, had been waiting for.

For his part, Saleh Abu Shaar, the prisoner's cousin, explained that the family had knocked on every possible door and contacted various relevant authorities since his disappearance in December 2024. He pointed out that the Israeli occupation deliberately concealed any information about his fate throughout the past period, before recently allowing information about his presence inside its detention centers to be leaked.

The prisoner's father recalled the harsh search journey that led him to the martyrs' morgues in various hospitals in the Strip, where he was looking for any trace of his eldest son among the victims. The father confirmed that the information that reached the family about a month ago began to indicate his presence in 'Ofer' prison, which was officially confirmed through the legal visit and recent contacts made by the lawyer with the family.

In a scene reflecting Palestinian social traditions in dealing with loss, the prisoner's grandfather indicated that the family had already set up a mourning house for their grandson after losing hope of finding him alive. Today, the mourning house has turned into a joyful gathering and the distribution of sweets, amidst wishes that this joy will be completed with Eid's release from captivity and his actual return to his home in Gaza.

The family stressed in their conversation with media sources that their young son does not belong to any political or military organization, and that his departure on the day of his disappearance was motivated by the search for a livelihood in light of the harsh economic conditions. This incident once again highlights the issue of missing persons in the Gaza Strip, which is one of the most complex issues in light of the ongoing Israeli military operations.

Official statistics indicate that the genocide war launched by Israel on the Strip since October 2023 has left tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, as well as thousands of missing persons under the rubble or in occupation prisons. Thousands of Palestinian families await a miracle similar to what happened with the Abu Shaar family, to end the state of anxiety and anticipation that has been gnawing at their hearts for years.

I never agreed to perform the absentee funeral prayer, my heart always told me that my eldest son was still breathing and would return to my embrace one day.