Published on 6/27/2026
Among the rubble, rubble, and dust, relief workers from the Civil Defense Service in the Gaza Strip are struggling to reach the bodies of the family of the child Muhammad, who were martyred in an Israeli occupation army bombing on the night of the announcement of a ceasefire on October 9, 2025.
Only the child Muhammad survived that bombing, who today watches with unquenchable bewilderment and anguish the work of exhuming civil defense men in the hope of finding the remains of his family members and bidding his brothers and parents a final farewell.
A video clip published by the Civil Defense spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Basal, today, Saturday, documents efforts to recover the family’s bodies. The video clip shows Bassal speaking, and next to him stands 12-year-old Mohammed Ghabboun, silent and in shock.
Basal reported that the child Muhammad’s siblings and relatives have remained under the rubble of the destroyed house since then, explaining that the specialized civil defense teams are working today to remove the rubble in an attempt to recover their bodies and honor them with burial.
There are about 40 people from the family of the child Ghabun under the rubble, while the Civil Defense has succeeded to date in retrieving two women amid extremely complex and difficult rescue conditions and in light of the lack of capabilities necessary to remove the rubble.
The child Muhammad Ghabboun is one of thousands of children in the Gaza Strip who lost their parents under the Israeli bombing and have not been found to this day. Mahmoud Basal estimates the number of those who remained under the rubble at about 8,500 martyrs.
In his message, Basal sent an appeal to the world, stressing the humanitarian and moral duty to protect the children of Gaza, who are now facing a bitter reality and bearing responsibilities beyond their age and ability to bear, in light of the continuing war on the Strip.
Data included in a report prepared by Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza, Nour Khaled, indicate that about 85,000 children blame the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, including 27,000 children who lost both parents, suddenly finding themselves without support, care, or shelter, while some of them try to cling to what remains of hope through those who extend a helping hand to them.
