After long months of destruction and uncertainty in Gaza, the Ibrahim and Mahmoud al-Aetout brothers were in a moment of strong emotion. “It’s as if the soul returned to the chest,” they confessed, relieved to finally be together again. However, the joy of reunion was eshed for the loss: an Israeli attack killed one of Ibrahim’s daughters and destroyed the family home.
The two natural brothers of Jabalia, in northern Gaza, were separated early in the conflict in October 2023. While Mahmoud remained in the north, Ibrahim went to the south, where he was until the recent truce allows the return of displaced.
The exciting reunion, captured on video, shows the brothers to hug themselves in the crowd of Palestinians who returned to their destroyed homes. Mahmoud, who waited for his brother for hours, says that many people confused him with Ibrahim, until finally he saw him arrive with his six daughters.
Now the two are going on to turn the wreckage of the house where they grew up, trying to rescue any remembrance of the past that resisted the war.
