Alone in Gaza: Genocide leaves Palestinian man without family or a home

What the report says

Mahmoud Khalla, a 40-year-old man from Jabalia in northern Gaza, is at the center of an Al Jazeera report about the human toll of Israel’s war on Gaza. The story says he lost his wife, three children, parents, two brothers, extended relatives and other family members when an Israeli strike hit the family’s five-storey home on Dec. 21, 2023, killing 39 people. Khalla survived only because he had left briefly to look for food during the siege.

According to Al Jazeera, Khalla has since lived without a permanent home and without close family support, moving between streets, cars and other makeshift places to sleep. The account describes how insecurity, shortages of food and shelter, and ongoing military activity left him vulnerable and isolated in Gaza City and surrounding areas. The report also says he continued visiting the cemetery where many relatives were buried, keeping a routine that helped him cope with the loss.

The article adds that after a ceasefire was announced in October 2025, Khalla began trying to recover the remains of relatives still believed to be under the rubble of the destroyed house. With limited help from civil defence and other organizations because of equipment shortages and many similar requests, he and volunteers reportedly worked for months to retrieve the bodies by hand.

Al Jazeera frames Khalla’s experience as part of the wider problem of missing people and families unable to properly recover or bury loved ones in Gaza. The report notes that thousands were still listed as missing nearly a year after the ceasefire, underscoring the continuing displacement, grief and reconstruction challenges facing civilians in the enclave.