Signs of hope: among Gaza's ruins, a few families are being reunified

In the narrow alleyways of the war-torn Gaza, tears of grief and tears of joy often merge in the exact fleeting moment.

Among tents and shattered homes, children lost amid the chaos of Israeli attacks are finding their way back into the arms of their families months later. 

After being separated from them for five long months, Seven-year-old Sarah Abu Jarad lives with her family in a tent in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis—a reunion she once thought impossible.

The ordeal began in December 2023, when escalating Israeli bombardments forced hundreds of families to flee Rafah's Shaboura neighbourhood toward Khan Younis. As they ran for safety, a missile struck nearby, plunging the convoy into chaos. In the panic, Sarah disappeared.

"My wife fainted and was taken to Nasser Hospital, but Sarah was gone. I screamed her name until I lost my voice. All I could hear were people's cries," her father, Abdul Rahman, recalled to The New Arab.

Hours later, volunteers found Sarah near Deir al-Balah, and a Palestinian Red Crescent member took her to a school serving as a shelter, where she met Iman al-Hawajri, a woman displaced from northern Gaza.

"She cried every night, calling for her mother. At first, she couldn't remember her family name. We thought she had lost her memory from the shock," she told TNA.

For three months, Sarah stayed with Iman's family and attended a small, makeshift school for displaced children. Gradually, Iman says, she began to speak again, drawing flowers and writing her mother's name in shaky, yet legible, letters.

To locate her family, Iman shared Sarah's details on the Facebook page "Our Missing Children in Gaza," where a distant relative recognised her and informed the Ministry of Social Development.

In March 2024, Abdul Rahman finally met his daughter in a corridor at the European Hospital, coordinated through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

"She opened her arms to me. It was as if my heart started beating again. I couldn't believe I was touching her," Abdul Raham recalled.

Despite living with her family, Sarah sometimes wakes up screaming. "She dreams we have left her again," her father said.

Yet, he believes his daughter's survival is a sign of hope. "The war took everything," he says, "but it gave me back to my daughter. That's enough for me to endure."

In the Nuseirat refugee camp, 10-year-old Laith Abu Samhadana lives with his aunt Suad in a house still bearing cracks from nearby shelling. He is the only survivor of his immediate family.

In January 2024, during the intense Israeli bombardment of Khan Younis, Laith's home was destroyed. Rescuers pulled him from the rubble seven hours later, unconscious and covered in dust. His parents and three siblings were gone.

He was treated at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, but his identity was unknown. For weeks, he stayed silent until a displaced neighbour, Abu Khaled al-Qudwa, took him in.

"He never spoke […] He just drew pictures of a house and a tree. Over time, he began to smile when we played with him. What he needed most was love," Abu Khaled told TNA.

In June 2024, the ICRC located his aunt Suad, who had survived and was sheltering in al-Nuseirat refugee camp. After formal verification, Laith was handed over to her.

"When he walked into the room," Suad recalls, tears streaming down her face, "he said, 'Auntie, it smells like home here.' I felt my sister return through him."

Now, Laith attends a UNRWA school and participates in weekly psychosocial sessions at the Noor Al-Hayat Centre. Though still withdrawn, he sometimes joins neighbourhood children in playing football.

"I want to be a doctor to help people under the rubble," he told TNA.

"He carries the pain of our whole family," his aunt says, "but he also carries its hope."

According to the Ministry of Social Development, 437 children have been documented as separated from their families since Israel's genocidal war began, with 286 successfully reunited through cooperation with the ICRC and UNICEF.

Maher al-Dahdouh, the ministry's official for missing persons, told TNA that the task is "one of the most painful."

"We often work without communication networks, civil records, or confirmation of whether families are alive, but when a child recognises their parent, all the exhaustion disappears. That single embrace restores part of our humanity," he said.

In a late October press statement, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported ongoing efforts to trace and reunify families in Gaza.

According to the agency, 85 children had been successfully reunited with their caregivers. Follow-up support was completed for another 76 unaccompanied or separated children to ensure their safe placement and continued care. To strengthen future efforts, OCHA said it distributed 197 identification bracelets to children at risk of separation.

Psychologists across Gaza describe the reunited children as deeply scarred. Many wake in panic, struggle to speak, or refuse to let go of a parent’s hand.

Rawan Ahmed, a psychosocial counsellor, told TNA that "these children live between fear and hope. They sleep holding someone’s hand because the fear of losing love is stronger than any comfort we can offer."

"For these children, the war has rewritten what family means. Each reunion is a fragile beginning, a moment of healing amid ruins where love tries to reclaim what war has torn apart," Ahmed added.