Gaza man found alive after 18 months in Israeli custody

A Palestinian Family Receives Confirmation of Son’s Imprisonment

The family of Eid Nael Abu Shaar, a 25-year-old man from Gaza, has received confirmation that he is being held in Ofer Prison in Israel. The news was revealed through a phone call from a lawyer, ending an 18-month search for the missing individual.

Eid went missing on December 15, 2024, while searching for work near the Netzarim Corridor, also known as the “Axis of Death”. His family had scoured Gaza for his body and obtained official documents classifying him as dead, but they never lost hope that he was still alive. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and human rights groups were contacted by the family in an attempt to locate Eid.

A released detainee recently reported encountering a man named Eid Abu Shaar in prison, which led to the confirmation of his imprisonment. The news has sparked celebration across Gaza, with the Abu Shaar family and their neighbors distributing sweets in their homes.

However, many other families in Gaza are still awaiting news about their missing relatives. According to Nada Nabil, director of the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared, an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 Palestinians are currently missing due to the war, with approximately 1,500 believed to be forcibly disappeared inside Israeli prisons.

Israel’s denial of information regarding detainees like Eid is a deliberate military tactic, according to Nabil. The occupation intentionally adopts a policy of total secrecy to prolong the pain of Palestinian families. This has led to a phenomenon known as “suspended grief” or “ambiguous loss”, which paralyses the lives of thousands of families who have missing loved ones.

The Abu Shaar family’s story is one of rare good news during a humanitarian catastrophe, but it highlights the devastating plight of many other families in Gaza.

Source: Al Jazeera