Every morning, Mahmoud Khalla goes to the nearby cemetery to visit the graves of the family members he lost during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
asserted
he → go → Gaza
He has held on to this morning routine in the months since he buried them, imagining his family is still around.
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For Mahmoud, 40, the cemetery is the resting place of some of the people he has loved the most in his life.
His wife, his three children, his parents, his two brothers and their families, his sister and her children, and other relatives had all gathered in their family home in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on December 21, 2023.
uncertain
wife → hold → December
An Israeli strike then targeted the five-storey family home, destroying the building and killing all 39 people inside.
asserted
strike → target → people
Mahmoud left his home shortly before it hit and is the only one left in his family.
asserted
it → leave → family
The siege
Mahmoud remembers that day with heartache.
asserted
Mahmoud → remember → heartache
Israeli tanks had surrounded the area near the house in Jabalia, northern Gaza, making it dangerous for people to move around.
asserted
people → surround → Jabalia
In the evening, Mahmoud left the house in search of provisions to feed his family.
asserted
Mahmoud → leave → family
“I told them I would go and see what was available,” he told Al Jazeera.
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he → tell → Jazeera
“As soon as I had been out for about 15 minutes, I heard a huge explosion.”
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I → hear → explosion
“I ran back and discovered that the targeted house was ours.
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house → run → ?
But I pulled myself together.
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I → pull → myself
With the help of a few neighbours who were still in the area, we tried to rescue anyone who might be under the rubble.”
uncertain
who → try → rubble
Israeli air attacks, quadcopters and surveillance aircraft continued to target the area.
asserted
attacks → continue → area
It made it impossible for Mahmoud and his neighbours to search for survivors.
asserted
Mahmoud → make → survivors
“A surveillance aircraft dropped a bomb on us, so we immediately ran away,” he says.
asserted
he → drop → us
“We came back the next morning.”
asserted
We → come → ?
Ambulances and civil defence teams were also unable to reach the site that night.
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Ambulances → reach → site
With this sense of helplessness, he imagined that some of his family might still be alive under the rubble, waiting to be rescued.
uncertain
some → imagine → rubble
He felt as though he had died a thousand times that night.
asserted
he → feel → ?
The following morning, he returned to the site and called out to his family members who might be beneath the ruined home.
uncertain
who → return → home
Nobody answered, and it was at this moment he realised he had lost nearly every person he loved.
asserted
he → answer → person
It was impossible for us to pull anyone out,” he said.
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he → pull → anyone
That attack marked the beginning of a long period of emptiness for Mahmoud.
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attack → mark → Mahmoud
With his home destroyed and almost all of his relatives killed or displaced to the south
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all → destroy → south
, he had nowhere to go.
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he → have → nowhere
“Even my uncles had been killed,” he says.
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he → kill → ?
“Their house, opposite ours, was targeted nine days before our family home.
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house → target → home
Eighteen people were killed in that attack.
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people → kill → attack
The rest of the family had gone south.”
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rest → go → family
Mahmoud spent the following months displaced and alone.
asserted
Mahmoud → spend → months
He moved between the streets in search of somewhere to sleep for the night.
asserted
He → move → night
It was difficult to find shelter among displaced families when he had no relation to them.
asserted
he → find → them
“I was sleeping in the streets, or in cars or vehicles whenever I found one that was open,” he says.
asserted
he → sleep → one
The struggle for food became as urgent as the need to find somewhere safe to sleep.
asserted
struggle → become → somewhere
“You don’t know whether a bullet will hit you, whether a rocket will come, whether you will find food or where you will sleep,” he said.
asserted
he → know → food
Recovering his family
After a “ceasefire” was announced for Gaza in October 2025, families began the difficult search for their missing loved ones.
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families → recover → ones
Nearly a year later, an estimated 8,000 people remain missing, their bodies likely under the rubble of their homes or in other locations.
asserted
bodies → estimate → locations
Months after the “ceasefire” began and bombing decreased, Mahmoud started recovering the remains of his family members himself.
asserted
Mahmoud → begin → members
They had been entombed among the remains of their home for the last 29 months.
asserted
They → entomb → months
“The feeling that my family was still under the rubble, without being buried, was very difficult,” he says.
asserted
he → bury → rubble
…and 12 more, not listed.
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