Tahrir Abu Mady has her daughter Malak’s death certificate. But a list of prisoners suggests she might have been arrested. Her son is also missing.
More than two years into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, thousands remain missing as families endure the agony of unverified deaths and shadowy detentions.
In a partially destroyed home in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, Tahrir Abu Mady lives among the charred walls and repaired sections of a house that hold the memories of her missing children.
Her daughter, Malak, who was 20 when she went missing, was a university student and a volunteer nurse at Nasser Hospital — a young woman who, like many others, tried to help as the war engulfed the besieged enclave.
Displaced to the coastal area of al-Mawasi, the family fled the bombardment. But when Israeli ground forces advanced into Khan Younis in 2024, Malak and her 18-year-old brother, Yousef, briefly returned home to retrieve her university books. They were never seen again.
When relatives finally reached the property, severely damaged during the invasion, forensic teams recovered human remains inside the blackened ruins. Based on those grim findings, Gaza’s Ministry of Health issued a death certificate for Malak, but Yousef’s fate remained unknown.
A cruel twist
Months later, a revelation upended Tahrir’s mourning.
Recently released Palestinian detainees shared a list of prisoners held in Israeli custody. Among the names was Malak Abu Mady. Next to her name were three disturbing words: “No information available.”
“I haven’t heard from my kids so far,” Tahrir said. “I struggle with anxiety and restless thoughts at night. Life has lost its taste.”
Desperate for answers, Tahrir attempted to hire a lawyer based in the Palestinian-majority city of Umm al-Fahm, in Israel, to track her daughter’s whereabouts within the Israeli prison system. However, the exorbitant legal fees meant that she could not afford to pursue the case.
Pattern of ambiguity
Human rights groups warn that Malak’s case is far from unique. During more than two years of the genocidal war, Israeli forces have detained thousands of Palestinians from Gaza, often holding them in undisclosed locations without charge or access to legal representation.
Maha al-Husseini, a researcher at the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, noted that such cases reflect a broader pattern of ambiguity surrounding detentions, unverified deaths and missing people across the territory.
“We estimate the number of those forcibly disappeared as around 3,000 people,” al-Husseini said. “Most of those are unknown if they were dead or inside Israeli jails, because the Israeli authorities refuse to provide any information regarding these people.”
Families are routinely left in a state of suspended grief, unable to bury their dead properly or advocate for their imprisoned relatives.
Now, Tahrir lives trapped between two agonising realities: an official government death certificate and a name on a smuggled prisoner list.
Inside the house once marked by fire, she turns to the scarred walls to write a message: “We are still waiting for you, Malak … our white coat girl.”
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