Alhamdulillah for their release, but Gaza is a ghost city - freed detainees return in shock and sorrow
As-salamu alaykum. Hundreds of Palestinian men who were released after almost two years in Israeli custody returned home this week, but they didn’t find the Gaza they left. Instead they came back to ash, rubble and empty neighbourhoods - a place they called a ghost city.
There was relief and gratitude for freedom, Alhamdulillah, yet that feeling was mixed with shock at the scale of destruction and deep sorrow when they learned many loved ones had been killed. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un - many families are grieving.
Abdullah Farhan, who arrived by bus to Khan Younis in the south, said he was stunned after crossing the border. He described Gaza as being reduced to rubble in every sense. For someone who spent months cut off from news, the sight was unbearable. He said he and the other detainees had no real information while in custody - no news, no voices, nothing.
On returning, Abdullah discovered that neighbours, relatives and friends were gone, including his uncle and his closest friend Mohammed. He said Mohammed was like a brother and they did everything together. Abdullah maintains he was never part of any faction and hadn’t taken part in resistance activities; he says he was arrested while accompanying a relative to Nasser Hospital.
He also says he was beaten and humiliated in prison, and forced to face relatives of hostages who were allowed to shout at them. Many of the roughly 1,700 people released arrived in poor health and had medical check-ups before reuniting with family members.
Dr Ahmed Mohanna, who was the director of Al Awda Hospital in northern Gaza when he was detained, spoke about the relief of being reunited with his mother. He said she is his whole life and that thinking of her kept him going through the long months in custody. Alhamdulillah he could embrace her again.
Not every reunion had a happy ending. Haitham Salem returned to learn that his wife Ikhlas and their three children - Iman, Lian and Bara - were killed when a tent in Al Mawasi was hit by an air strike just a month before his release. He said the shock is something the mind cannot take. He had been saving a small bracelet he made in prison to give to Lian on her birthday; now freedom feels like a punishment because it brought the news.
Many returning families are trying to rebuild what they can and to bury the dead, asking why children were killed. People say they will not forgive such crimes and are calling on others to remember Gaza in their prayers and to help however possible. May Allah grant patience to the grieving and make it easy for those trying to rebuild.
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