‘Tell us’: Gaza family trapped between hope and pain over missing brothers

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports from Gaza City on the Abdel Aal family’s search for two missing brothers, Othman and Sami, who disappeared on June 29, 2025, after leaving their displaced family’s home in Gaza City. The boys, then teenagers, had said they were going to an aid distribution point near the Netzarim Corridor and may also have planned to visit the family’s former home in Shujayea. Their parents, Ashjan and Rafaat Abdel Aal, say they have spent more than a year checking hospitals, shelters, relatives and aid-related contacts, but have received no verified information about what happened to them.

The article says the family has encountered conflicting and unconfirmed reports, including a possible sighting of bodies near their old neighborhood, a mistaken identification at a hospital, and later claims from an unnamed lawyer that the boys were alive in Israeli detention. None of those leads were officially confirmed. Rafaat says he later found only ruins, debris and a small bone fragment near the former home after a ceasefire allowed access to the area, though the site later became inaccessible again.

Beyond the family’s case, Al Jazeera places the story in the wider context of Gaza’s war, mass displacement and shortages that have pushed civilians toward dangerous routes in search of food. The report cites local and international figures to illustrate how many people remain unaccounted for and highlights the difficulties families face when trying to verify missing-person cases amid war, restricted access and unreliable information.