The BBCThey are smiling now as they play together in the sand in the al-Mawasi tent camp in southern Gaza, but the Masri family’s children have survived the horrific events.
“His life was in danger, he was the victim of a lot of killing and destruction,” says his grandmother, Kausar al-Masri.
Six weeks ago, an Israeli bombardment hit their home in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, where the parents of one-year-old Jamal and his cousin Maria, the mother of Jana and Zeina, and two young sisters, aged two to nine, lived. . The girls’ father was arrested by Israeli forces more than a year ago.
When the children were pulled from the wreckage, they were injured and alone.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, more than 14,500 children have reportedly been killed, thousands have been injured and an estimated 17,000 have been separated from family members who would normally be with them. Used to take care.
Some are too young to know their names and remain unknown.
In a chaotic situation amid bombings and mass displacement, the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, has managed to reunite only 63 children with their parents or guardians. Last month, the BBC followed the story of the four Misri cousins.
“The joy of their return is indescribable, but it is overshadowed by sadness – they came back without their parents,” Kausar al-Masri told us.
Initially, news reaching Kowsar in mid-November was that all his loved ones who remained in the family home in northern Gaza had been killed. But she says that after praying, she got the news that her three grandchildren were still alive.
She knew immediately that she had to bring them to her. “I longed for them,” she explains. “In truth, I wished I could go north and get them, but God’s will is above all.”
For more than a year now, Israel has divided the northern third of the Gaza Strip from the southern two-thirds along the Gaza Strip line. Humanitarian workers have to make special efforts to cross the Israeli military zone dividing the area.
After Kawther submitted the required documents, UNICEF conducted its own welfare check and went through a painstaking process to arrange for the transfer of Misri’s children.
When the four bereaved cousins were treated, they were cared for by distant relatives. UNICEF filmed the children’s emotional farewell before they were taken away in armored vehicles.
The short distance the convoy was traveling from Gaza City to Deir al-Balah now involves crossing an Israeli checkpoint, takes a long time to drive and can be very dangerous as the war continues. Yet UNICEF says it is prioritizing the children’s reunification.
“The challenges are manifold,” says UNICEF spokeswoman Rosalia Bolin. “But we’re talking about very vulnerable children here.”
“These are stories of loss – of deep mental trauma and physical trauma and for these children to recover. The fact that they are reunited with one or both parents, or a family member, is very, very important. “
Cowther describes an agonizing wait the day the children were due until UNICEF finally called. He had not seen his grandchildren for 14 months.
“I didn’t know who to hug first!” she runs. “The first one I hugged was Jana and then Xena. I kissed her and hugged her.”
“My son’s kids called me ‘Coco’ and although Zaina couldn’t speak the last time I saw her, she knew that was my nickname. She kept asking: ‘Are you Coco?’ Are you what I came here for?’ And I told him I felt safe.”
The story of the Masri family is not uncommon. They were separated in the early days of the war.
On October 7, 2023, a week after a Hamas attack that killed nearly 1,200 people in southern Israel, the Israeli military ordered 1.1 million people from northern Gaza to move south, signaling that it had launched a ground offensive. Planned to do.
Kausar and most of his children quickly moved to Rafah, but transportation ended for his two sons, Ramadan and Hamza. They stayed behind with their wives – one of whom was pregnant – and young children.
In November 2023, Hamza was arrested by Israeli forces in Beit Lahia. His close relatives insist that he and he are farmers with no political affiliation. The BBC has been unable to get information from the Israeli authorities about what happened to Hamza.
Israel has detained thousands of Gazans during the war, saying they are suspected of terrorism.
“It was our fate,” Kausar tells us wistfully. “We lost our homes, our land and our loved ones, and we were divided between the North and the South.”
With so many people unaccounted for, many turn to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for help. It takes detailed information and cross-checks it with sources it can access, such as hospital lists and names of returned prisoners.
More than 8,300 cases have been reported to the organization but only 2,100 have been closed. Of these, only a small number have reunited families.
“People are lost – they don’t know if their family members are alive, if they’re injured or in hospital, if they’re trapped under the rubble or if they’ll ever see them again,” says Sarah Davies of the ICRC. “
Doctors and staff in hospitals also play their part in trying to connect their patients with their loved ones.
Almost a year ago, the BBC filmed a newborn baby born by caesarean section after his mother was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Medical experts called the little girl “Hina Abu Amsha’s daughter” and kept information about her in the hope that her relatives would be able to trace her.
The nursery at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah told us recently that the baby was eventually handed over to his father and is in good condition.
A few days after the Masri family was reunited, a local journalist working with the BBC met Kawther and his grandchildren in the Almawasi displaced people’s camp where they now live in a tent. With aid in short supply, UNICEF helped them obtain additional food and medicine.
The girls also had warm jackets – some protection from the cold temperatures that have caused several children to die of hypothermia, including at a camp on the coast, near the town of Khan Yunis.
Although Cawther is relieved to have her children with her, she still does not feel they are safe. He is concerned about how to take care of them and their mental health.
“They’re in shock,” she says. “No matter how hard we try to distract girls and avoid talking about the war, they sometimes get lost in thought.”
“When it’s night, they get scared. They say: ‘There’s a ship, there’s a strike.’ They ask me: ‘Has it dawned yet?’ And when the morning comes, they feel satisfied.”
Kawther says she desperately hopes for a ceasefire and for her grandchildren to rebuild their lives. Don’t be part of the lost generation.