After a two-year legal and diplomatic effort, seven siblings from Gaza reunited with their eldest sister in Nazareth in July 2026, marking the conclusion of a harrowing journey for a family separated by the Israel-Hamas war. The siblings, aged 8 to 22, secured Israeli passports to leave the enclave following the deaths of their parents and younger brother in a 2024 airstrike.
The Path to Reunification
The family’s separation began in 2023, when Mais al-Gharam, 23, moved from Gaza to Nazareth, where she resided as an Israeli citizen. The conflict that erupted on October 7, 2023, left her seven siblings trapped in Gaza. Under Israeli law, the siblings were eligible for citizenship through their mother, a Nazareth resident, but the process remained complex due to the ongoing war and the death of their mother.
Mais worked with the Israeli rights group HaMoked to navigate the bureaucracy. The process required DNA testing to confirm the familial relationship to an Israeli citizen and a court order establishing legal guardianship for the minors. According to HaMoked, the Interior Ministry initially resisted the application because the mother had died, but the family eventually secured the necessary documentation to facilitate their exit through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The Impact of the 2024 Strike
The family’s experience in Gaza during the war involved repeated displacement. By early 2024, the siblings had relocated multiple times, eventually returning to their original home in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
On July 10, 2024, an airstrike hit the home, resulting in the deaths of the siblings’ parents and their 11-year-old brother, Maisara. The surviving children, several of whom sustained fractures and other injuries, were treated at Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah. Following the loss of their parents, the eldest siblings assumed responsibility for the younger children, operating a local bakery and relying on funds from family members in Israel to survive until their departure. The Israeli military did not provide a comment regarding the specific strike on the family home.
Challenges for Divided Families
The al-Gharam case highlights the difficulties faced by hundreds of families with members split between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Rights groups estimate that more than 300 such "divided families" have been caught in the conflict.
Historical movement restrictions, tightened significantly since the Second Intifada, have long complicated the status of families where one spouse is an Israeli citizen and the other is a Palestinian from the West Bank or Gaza. Israeli law generally prohibits the automatic granting of permanent residency or citizenship to Palestinian spouses of Israeli citizens, often forcing families to choose between living apart or settling in territories where movement is restricted.
Current Status of the Siblings
Upon their arrival in Nazareth on July 8, 2026, the siblings transitioned from the conflict zone to the home of their extended family. The family members have stated that their immediate focus is on accessing medical care, enrolling the younger children in school, and beginning the process of recovery. For the al-Gharam family, the reunion represents the end of a period of displacement, though they remain permanently altered by the loss of their parents and the destruction of their home.
Related reading