Families across Gaza are enduring an agonising wait for news of missing relatives, with thousands unaccounted for more than a year on from the height of the conflict. Among them is Majdiya al Madhoun, whose 21-year-old son Ahmed, who has Down's syndrome, vanished near Gaza City in May 2025 after going to a local shop during Israeli strikes; she does not know whether he is dead or has been detained. The scale of the missing highlights how official death tolls likely understate the true human cost, since bodies buried under rubble are not counted, leaving countless families in limbo.

More than 73,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel's campaign began, according to the territory's health ministry, figures the UN and reportedly Israeli security sources regard as credible. The Red Cross has logged over 5,000 requests to trace people feared buried in rubble, while Gaza's Civil Defence agency puts the number of missing above 8,000; recovery is hampered by destruction, a lack of bulldozers and restricted DNA-testing capacity. Separately, Israel has detained around 7,000 Palestinians from Gaza during the war, of whom some 5,000 were later released without charge, and roughly 1,300 remain held without charge or trial, according to rights groups, which say families are often not informed of arrests or whereabouts.