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STORY: UN / CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT
TRT: 08:43
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 26 JUNE 2025, GAZA CITY, PALESTINE
1. Wider shot, Anwar Hawas, as she begins her daily journey searching for her brother,
2. Various shots, Anwar Hawas walking through the devastated streets of Gaza, holding a stack of papers bearing her missing brother’s photo and contact information
3. Various shots, Anwar Hawas as she posts pictures of her missing brother on a wall in Gaza's streets
4. Various shots, Anwar Hawas walking through the destroyed streets of Gaza,
5. Various shots, Anwar Hawas asking people in the streets if they have any information about her missing brother, after showing them his photos
6. Various shots, Anwar Hawas posting her brother’s photo on a wall in front of a shop in Gaza City
7. Various shots, Anwar Hawas arriving at a field hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society to inquire about her brother’s whereabouts
8. Various shots, Anwar Hawas speaking with the reception desk at the field hospital, asking a staff member about her missing brother
9. Various shots, Anwar Hawas posting printed papers with her brother’s photo and contact information in front of a field hospital
10. Various shots, Anwar Hawas speaking with street vendors in Gaza City, asking if anyone has information about her missing brother
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Anwar Hawas, Sister of Missing Person:
“I am looking for my brother Hadi Hawas, who has been missing. Every day, I go out early in the morning and return in the evening, hoping to find him. I printed his photo and stuck it on walls and searched the streets. I pray that God helps me find him.”
12. Various shots, Anwar Hawas asking women in Gaza’s streets about any information regarding her brother
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Anwar Hawas, Sister of Missing Person:
“Due to the absence of governmental bodies and the lack of security, and since there are no official entities to help us find him, we had to resort to old methods like distributing flyers—especially since we have no internet or communications. The situation has been extremely difficult.”
14. Various shots, Anwar Hawas walking through the alleys of Gaza City in search of her brother
15. Various shots, Ghazi Al-Majdalawi, founder of an initiative and platform named 'The Palestinian Centre for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared', as he communicates via phone with a family whose son is missing
16. Various shots, the computer screen used by Ghazi Al-Majdalawi, showing the digital platform for registering and publishing information about missing persons
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ghazi Al-Majdalawi, Founder, Palestinian Centre for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared:
“With the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza and continued ground operations, field searches for the missing have become increasingly difficult. That’s why we launched an electronic platform through which citizens can register the names of their missing loved ones. We then verify, review, and publish the data. The Israeli occupation prevents the entry of materials required for DNA testing, which makes it difficult to identify the bodies retrieved from areas the occupation forces have withdrawn from. There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of people who have been killed and whose identities remain unknown due to these limitations.”
18. Various shots, Ghazi Al-Majdalawi during a phone call with a family that has lost one of its members
19. Various shots, the website launched by Ghazi Al-Majdalawi to assist in locating missing persons
20. Various shots, a major intersection in Gaza City known as Al-Saraya
21. Various shots, Mustafa Ibrahim, Chairman of the Board of Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights in Gaza, working at his desk
22. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mustafa Ibrahim, Chairman of the Board, Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights in Gaza:
“Al-Dameer has followed up on around 1,000 cases of missing persons or enforced disappearances. Through our communications with Israeli authorities, we’ve been able to uncover the fate of approximately 600 cases reported by families in Gaza. As of now, the fate of around 420 individuals remains unknown, and the Israeli occupation authorities have not disclosed their whereabouts. Our work has continued since the beginning of the war. Some people are forcibly disappeared—meaning their arresting authority is known, either through eyewitnesses or specific dates. However, others have disappeared entirely, and we have no information about them.”
23. Various shots, Omar Al-Mukhtar Street in Gaza City, showing people moving among rubble and tents
24. Wide shot, hills of rubble from destroyed homes in western Gaza City
Amid the rubble of war-torn Gaza City, 22-year-old Anwar Hawas steps out every morning, clutching printed sheets bearing the photo of her missing brother Hadi, 17, and walks through the devastated streets in search of even a glimmer of hope.
With steady steps, Anwar navigates the city’s alleys, holding her brother’s photo between her fingers as if she were carrying a piece of her soul. She studies the faces of passersby, asking if anyone has seen Hadi, who went missing three weeks ago after leaving home and never returned.
“I’m looking for my missing brother, Hadi Hawas,” Anwar said, her voice heavy with pain.
She said, “every day I leave in the morning and return in the evening, hoping to find him. I printed his photo and have been posting it on walls and searching in the streets. I pray to God to help me find him.”
She stops at walls to paste photo after photo, questions street vendors, and visits a field hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, seeking any clue that could lead her to him. The same scene repeats in every neighbourhood and corner—but without results.
Anwar adds, “with no functioning government bodies, no security, and no official institutions to help us, we were forced to resort to old methods—distributing paper—especially given the ongoing internet and communication blackout. The situation has been extremely difficult.”
Anwar is not alone. In a parallel effort, young activist Ghazi Al-Majdalawi founded an online initiative known as the Palestinian Centre for the Missing and the Forcibly Disappeared, aiming to fill this tragic gap. Ghazi communicates daily with families searching for loved ones and works tirelessly to input data into a digital platform he created with the help of volunteers. The platform documents the missing, verifies information, and attempts to trace them.
“With the Israeli war on Gaza continuing and ground operations ongoing, we launched this online platform,” said Al-Majdalawi.
He added, “the occupation prevents the entry of DNA testing materials, which makes it very difficult to identify recovered bodies. There are hundreds—possibly thousands—of unidentified fatalities.”
In light of this grim reality, human rights activists are striving to spotlight the scale of the tragedy. Mustafa Ibrahim, Chairman of the Board of Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights, said, “we followed up on around 1,000 cases of missing or forcibly disappeared persons. We managed to clarify the fate of 600 through coordination with Israeli authorities, but the fate of around 420 individuals remains unknown. Some were forcibly disappeared, and there is no available information about them.”
According to data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of missing persons in Gaza has exceeded 11,000 since the start of the war, the majority being women and children.
The fate of these missing individuals remains unclear due to the absence of accurate official statistics that might determine whether they were killed in airstrikes and remain buried under the rubble, detained, or disappeared under other circumstances.
Local human rights organizations report that some of the missing are believed to be held in Israeli prisons, while other reports suggest that some may have been forcibly disappeared, with no information available regarding their whereabouts to this day.
Local reports also indicate that dozens of Palestinians went missing while attempting to reach aid distribution centres. Some are believed to have been killed and buried during military operations without their names being recorded on official casualty lists.
Gaza’s residents continue to face mounting challenges in identifying bodies or documenting deaths due to the ongoing shortage of resources necessary for search and recovery operations—further compounding the anguish of families waiting for answers.
