A Palestinian young man has returned to his family in the Gaza Strip after three years in Israeli detention -- reuniting with parents who had long presumed him dead in the war.
For years, Hamada Al-Banna’s family believed he had been killed by Israeli forces. Instead, the now 23-year-old from the northern Gaza town of Jabalia had spent all that time in Israeli detention.
His return came as a complete surprise. Even a phone call from the local Red Cross society failed to convince his father that he is still alive.
"I called my father and said, 'It's me, your son Hamada.' He didn't believe me. He said, 'My son is dead,' and hung up. To be honest, even now, none of us can really believe this is happening. We're all in shock. This room was meant for my wedding -- we'd already set a date. Now my future is gone. As you can see, everything is in ruins," said Hamada Al-Banna.
"My wife has diabetes -- she passed out from the shock. I was also in shock, screaming. When Hamada finally came back, it was the happiest moment and the most beautiful reunion we could ever have dreamed of," said his father, Yasser Al-Banna.
Despite the hardships and suffering they endured, Hamada Al-Banna and his family remain among the fortunate ones. Thousands of other families, however, are still waiting for news of their missing loved ones -- clinging to hope while bracing for the worst.
Among the missing is Nidal Al-Wahidi, a Palestinian journalist who was deployed to cover the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023. He disappeared shortly after. More than 1,000 days on, his family still has no answers about his fate.
"I hope my son is being held in detention somewhere and will suddenly return one day, just like the others. But I can't be sure. Some days I hold onto hope and tell myself he's still alive. Other days, I'm terrified he's been killed," said Nidal Al-Wahidi's mother.
According to Palestinian human rights groups, about 1,500 Palestinians from Gaza are classified as victims of enforced disappearance at the hands of Israeli forces.
"We submit the files of missing persons to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). The committee then forwards these cases to Israel, in the hope that Israeli authorities will cooperate and provide information on the fate of these individuals," said Nada Nabil, director of the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared.
The toll of this war is staggering -- thousands of people, simply gone. Their families are left in the dark. Local human rights groups have done all they can. As for what comes next -- no one knows.
Gaza man reunites with family after years in Israeli detention
