Families' agonising search for answers as thousands still missing in Gaza

What the report says

Families in Gaza are continuing to search for relatives who went missing during the war, with the BBC reporting that thousands of Palestinians are still unaccounted for. The article focuses on two Gaza City families: one looking for Ahmed al Madhoun, a 21-year-old with Down’s syndrome who vanished in May 2025, and another trying to trace Mahmoud al Drimli, who disappeared in 2024. Both families told the BBC they do not know whether their sons were killed, trapped under rubble or detained.

The report says the uncertainty is deepened by the scale of destruction in Gaza and the difficulty of identifying remains. The International Committee of the Red Cross has received more than 5,000 requests to help trace missing people, while Gaza’s civil defence agency says the number of missing is higher than 8,000. It also notes that bodies continue to be recovered and identified long after attacks, but shortages of equipment and testing capacity make the process slow.

The BBC also cited Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups saying thousands of Gazans have been detained by Israeli forces over the course of the conflict, with many later released without charge and others still held without trial. Families often say they are not informed of arrests or prison locations, forcing them to depend on lawyers and aid groups for answers. The article highlights how, for relatives, the lack of certainty is itself a continuing source of trauma.