While countries across the Middle East celebrate Mother’s Day, some families in the Gaza Strip are enduring the day in pain and heartbreak. What is meant to be an occasion to honor and gather around mothers has instead turned into a day where children search for their mothers’ names on lists of the missing, living an agonizing, open-ended fate.
Among these is the Salem family, who are suffering the loss of their mother, Zainab Salem. She vanished after leaving the family home in search of her missing son—one of hundreds of incidents that reflect the complexities of the war and its far-reaching impacts on civilians.
A Risky Journey North
Bassem Salem, Zainab’s son, says the ordeal began when his youngest brother decided to head to the family’s home in the Beit Lahiya project in northern Gaza, following rumors among residents that Israeli forces had withdrawn from certain areas.
Throughout the war in Gaza, many residents have risked returning to check on their homes, even those located near areas classified as “high-risk.” Driven by the bitterness of displacement and a severe lack of shelter, they gamble on the hope of finding their properties in livable condition.
Salem explains that these attempts are not exceptional. Amidst forced displacement and severe shortages of basic necessities, many resort to risking their lives to inspect their properties or salvage whatever food and clothing they can, despite the immense security risks.
He adds that his brother had attempted to reach the house the previous day without success. This prompted the family to warn him against trying again, insisting that they needed nothing from the house given the severe danger. However, the next day, he left alone without their knowledge, and all communication with him was completely severed. By nightfall, the family realized he had indeed headed north, marking the beginning of an arduous and fruitless search.
An Open Battle With Fear
The family desperately tried to uncover any information about the son’s fate, reaching out to humanitarian organizations and asking around locally, but all attempts failed. In the absence of answers, the mother plunged into severe anxiety. Refusing to accept his disappearance, she firmly believed he was still in the house, waiting to be rescued.
Salem describes his mother’s state during that period as an “open battle with fear.” The family tried in vain to calm her down. While she appeared to regain some composure after more than a week had passed since his disappearance, this quiet was short-lived.
On a Friday morning, the family was shocked to find the mother missing from the home—a highly unusual occurrence for her. Salem confirms she left without telling anyone, and all attempts to contact her failed. Meanwhile, deteriorating security conditions and treacherous roads prevented the family from reaching the area she likely headed toward.
Salem believes his mother took this step driven by an unwavering conviction that her son was still inside the house and that she could reach him and bring him back. Since then, no confirmed information has surfaced about either of them, adding their names to the growing list of missing persons in the Gaza Strip.
The Void Left Behind
The impact of this tragedy extends beyond the loss of two family members; it has caused profound psychological and social fracturing. Salem explains that his mother was the primary stabilizing force within the household, playing a central role in shielding her children from the psychological toll of the war. Her absence has left a massive void, plunging the family into a state of disorientation and depression.
This incident falls within a broader context of missing and forcibly disappeared persons in Gaza, where numerous families lose contact with their relatives under mysterious circumstances, with no adequate information regarding their fate or whereabouts.
Under international humanitarian law, enforced disappearance is considered a grave violation. It not only deprives individuals of their liberty but also inflicts immense suffering on their families, who are left in a state of open-ended waiting, torn between hope and fear. Furthermore, international law imposes legal obligations on relevant authorities to disclose the fate of the missing and guarantee their families’ right to know—a fundamental right that does not expire over time.
A Mother’s Day Without Answers
To this day, the Salem family continues to endure a profound struggle. It is not just the pain of longing for their mother, but the agonizing uncertainty surrounding her fate and that of their younger brother. They live in a constant cycle of unanswered questions: Were they killed en route to the danger zone, or were they detained and taken to an unknown location?
For Salem, the story remains open to all possibilities, no matter how cruel. “We are clinging to the hope that my mother and brother are alive, perhaps detained,” he says. “We are trying every possible way to find out anything about them.”
On Mother’s Day, this family holds no bouquets of flowers, nor words of greeting. All they have is a long wait and a single, recurring question: Where is our mother?
