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BBCNow they smile as they play together in the sand at the Al Mawasi tent camp in southern Gaza, but the Masri family’s children have endured horrific events.
“Their lives were in danger, they were subjected to so much killing and destruction,” says their grandmother Kawter al-Masri.
Israeli bombing six weeks ago hit their home in the northern city of Beit Lahiya, killing the parents of one-year-old Jamal and the mother and two young sisters of his cousins Maria, Jan and Zeina, aged two to nine. The girls’ father was arrested by Israeli forces more than a year ago.
When the children were pulled out from under the rubble, they were injured and alone.
Since the war in Gaza began, more than 14,500 children have reportedly been killed, thousands more have been injured, and an estimated 17,000 children have been left unaccompanied or separated from the family members who would normally care for them.
Some are too young to know their names and remain unidentified.
In a chaotic situation amid explosions and mass displacement, the UN children’s agency UNICEF managed to reunite only 63 children with their parents or guardians. The BBC followed the story of Masri’s four cousins last month.
“The happiness of their return is indescribable, but it is overshadowed by sadness – they have returned without their parents,” Kawter al-Masri told us.
Initially, the news that reached Kawter in mid-November was that all of her loved ones remaining in the family home in northern Gaza had been killed. But she says that after she prayed, she was told that three of her grandchildren were still alive.
She immediately understood that they should be brought to her. “I missed them,” she explains. “Honestly, I wanted to go to the North and get them, but God’s will is above all else.”
For more than a year now, Israel has divided the northern third of the Gaza Strip from the southern two thirds along the line of the Wadi Gaza Valley. Aid workers must perform special coordination to cross the Israeli military zone that divides the territory in half.
After Kawter gathered the documents she needed, UNICEF conducted its own social security check and went through a painstaking process to arrange the relocation of Masra’s children.
While the four dead cousins were being treated, distant relatives took care of them. UNICEF filmed their emotional farewell before taking the children away in an armored vehicle.
The short distance from Gaza City to Deir el-Balah, where the convoy was now headed, involves crossing an Israeli checkpoint, which takes a long time by car and can be very risky as the war continues. However, UNICEF says it prefers the reunification of children.
“There are many problems,” says Rosalia Bohlen, a UNICEF spokeswoman. “But we’re talking about very vulnerable children here.”
“These are stories of loss – of deep mental and physical trauma and for these children to heal. The fact that they are reunited with one or both parents or a family member is extremely, extremely important.”
Kauter describes the agonizing wait on the day the children were due to arrive, until finally UNICEF called. She did not see her grandchildren for 14 months.
“I didn’t know who to hug first!” she exclaims. “I hugged Yana first, and then Zayn. I kissed her and hugged her.”
“My son’s children called me ‘Coco’ and although Zeina couldn’t speak the last time I saw her, she knew that was my nickname. She kept asking, “Are you Kuko? Are you the one I came here for? ‘ And I told her I was safe.”
The story of the Masri family is not uncommon. They separated in the first days of the war.
A week after a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel, the Israeli military ordered 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to move south, signaling that it planned to launch a ground invasion.
Kawter and most of her children quickly packed up and moved to Rafah, but transportation for her two sons, Ramadan and Hamza, failed. As a result, they were left with their wives, one of whom was pregnant, and their young children.
In November 2023, Hamza was arrested by Israeli forces in Beit Lahia. His close relatives insist that he and they are farmers with no political affiliations. The BBC has not been able to get information from the Israeli authorities about what happened to Hamza.
Israel detained thousands of Gazans during the war, saying they were suspected of terrorism.
“It was our fate,” Kautar tells us in despair. “We lost our homes, our land and our loved ones, and we were divided between the North and the South.”
With so many people missing, many turn to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for help. He takes detailed information and cross-checks it with sources he has access to, such as hospital lists and the names of returned detainees.
More than 8,300 cases were reported to the organization, but only about 2,100 were closed. Of these, only a small number led to family reunification.
“People are in a state of limbo – they don’t know if their family members are alive, if they’re injured, if they’re in the hospital, if they’re buried under rubble, or if they’ll ever see them again,” says Sara Davies of the ICRC.
Doctors and hospital staff also play a role 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 her mother was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Doctors called the girl “Hannah Abu Amsha’s daughter” and kept information about her in the hope that her relatives would be able to track her down.
The nursery of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah recently reported that the child was eventually handed over to his father and is doing well.
A few days after Masri’s family was reunited, a local journalist working with the BBC visited Kawter and her grandchildren in the Al-Mawasi displaced persons camp, where they are now living in a tent. With aid in short supply, UNICEF helped them get additional food and medicine.
The girls also had warm jackets – some protection against the low temperatures that have led to the death of several children from hypothermia, including at a camp on the coast near the town of Khan Younis.
While Cowher is relieved that the children are with her, she still does not feel that they are safe. She is concerned about how to take care of them and their mental health.
“They are shocked,” she says. “No matter how hard we try to distract the girls and not talk about the war, every now and then they get lost in their thoughts.”
“When night comes, they are afraid. They say: “Here’s a plane, there’s a strike.” They ask me: “Is it dawn yet?” and only when the morning comes do they begin to feel calm.’
Kauter says she is desperate for a ceasefire and for her grandchildren to be able to rebuild their lives. To avoid becoming part of the lost generation.
