The story from a BBC News video is about the thousands of people still missing in Gaza, ten months after a ceasefire was announced, amid ongoing Israeli strikes, stalled peace efforts, and families left without answers.
In Gaza, so much has been lost: more than 70,000 lives and hundreds of thousands of homes. Then there are the missing. According to the Hamas-run health ministry (figures the UN considers reliable), more than 73,000 people have been killed since Israel’s military campaign began, including about 1,200 since a ceasefire was announced the previous October. The true toll may be higher because the official count does not include bodies still buried under rubble. The Red Cross has received more than 5,000 requests to trace missing people who may be under the destruction; Gaza’s Civil Defence agency puts the number of missing above 8,000. Bodies continue to be recovered daily.
One of those missing is Ahmed al-Madhoun (also spelled al-Madhun), a 21-year-old with Down’s syndrome. He disappeared in May 2025 after going to a local shop during Israeli strikes. His family describes him as a cheerful young man who was loved by everyone, always smiling and joking. His mother, Majdiya, says she has not lost hope: whether he is found alive, dead, or buried under the rubble, she will only find peace once she knows where he is. The Israeli Prison Service and military say they have no record of holding him.
Another is Mahmoud al-Drimli (also rendered as Mahmood or similar). He disappeared in 2024. His family initially feared he had been killed in an Israeli attack and searched hospitals. This summer a social-media photo appeared showing two Israeli soldiers with a blindfolded, bound Palestinian detainee. His mother, Aida, believes it is her son based on his features, posture, and other details. She felt a mix of relief that he might be alive and deep distress at seeing him humiliated. The family says neither he nor they had any affiliation with Hamas. The Israeli Prison Service said it had no record of holding him; the military declined to comment. The family asked the Red Cross to investigate, but Israel does not allow the organisation access to prison records.
Over nearly three years of war, Israeli forces have detained around 7,000 Palestinians from Gaza; more than 5,000 were later released without charge, and about 1,300 remain held without charge or trial according to Israeli rights groups. Families are often not notified. An Israeli lawyer who works to locate detainees, Tal Steiner of HaMoked, described the situation for families as “an open wound that doesn’t heal.” They cannot rest, not knowing if their relative is dead or alive, or where to bury them if they are gone.
Recovery of remains is extremely difficult because of the scale of the destruction and shortages of equipment such as bulldozers. Earlier this month a mass funeral was held in Gaza City for more than a hundred people killed in a 2023 Israeli strike; their remains had only recently been recovered and identified. International journalists are not allowed free access to the territory, limiting independent reporting. US President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza has stalled, and airstrikes have continued.
The BBC report ends by noting that for the families of the missing, many of them already displaced and homeless, there is still no ability to grieve or find closure. The video’s accompanying X post emphasises that the ceasefire remains only words on paper, the death toll continues to rise, journalists are barred, and the missing and their families still have no answers.
The urgent appeal is, “Keep watching Gaza. Do not look away.”
JANPATH NEWS NETWORK (JNN)
Independent. Fearless. On the People’s Path.
