‘Back from the dead’: The continuing agony over Gaza’s 9,500 missing people

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that the return of Hamada al-Banna to Gaza after a year in Israeli custody has intensified attention on thousands of Palestinians whose families still do not know whether they are dead, detained or missing. His relatives had held a three-day wake after being told he had been killed, only for him to reappear alive about two weeks before the article’s publication on July 23, 2026.

According to the report, al-Banna disappeared after going to seek aid near the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza, where he was separated from his brother Adham, who was later fatally shot by the Israeli army. Al-Banna said he was then injured in an explosion, lost consciousness, woke months later at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, received treatment, and was later transferred to an Israeli prison. He alleged he experienced torture and was held in solitary confinement before his release.

Al Jazeera says his fiancee, Reem Jadallah, searched for him for months and sold jewellery to hire a lawyer, but the family was eventually told he had died. His unexpected phone call home shocked relatives who had already mourned him. The report also describes the family of Nafez Abed, whose wife, children and mother remain without confirmed information about his fate.

The case highlights a wider humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Gaza Ministry of Health says it has received nearly 3,500 missing-person reports, while rights groups including Gaza-based Al-Dameer estimate the number of missing at 9,500. Families have held sit-ins and appealed to international organisations to press Israel for information, saying the uncertainty compounds their grief and trauma.