For 18 months, the family of Eid Nael Abu Shaar, a Palestinian man from Gaza, believed this eldest son was dead. They had scoured Gaza for his body, obtained a death certificate and erected a tent to mourn his loss, but then an unexpected phone call from a lawyer confirmed he was alive and being held in Israel’s Ofer Prison . It ended an agonising year-and-a-half search for Eid, but the revelation highlights the devastating plight of thousands of other families in the Gaza Strip who still await news about their missing relatives. Their fates remain unclear with families not knowing if their loved ones lie under rubble, are buried in unidentified mass graves or are being held in Israeli detention centres, such as Ofer, where torture is commonplace and Palestinians face indefinite internment. A desperate search among the dead Eid went missing on December 15, 2024, while looking for work to support his family close to central Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor, also known as the “Axis of Death”.…