Mahmoud Khalla lost 39 relatives in an Israeli strike on his family home in Jabalia in December 2023 and spent months without a home, sleeping in streets and vehicles.
01Summary
- 01Mahmoud Khalla, 40, says an Israeli strike killed all 39 people inside his five-storey family home in Jabalia on 21 December 2023.
- 02The dead included his wife, three children, parents, two brothers and their families, his sister and her children, and other relatives.
- 03Khalla spent months displaced in Gaza, sleeping in streets, cars or vehicles because he had no family network left to shelter with.
- 04After a ceasefire in October 2025, he began recovering his relatives’ remains by hand with help from friends and neighbours, a process that took three months.
- 05He buried the remains of his family members in a cemetery near Jabalia an-Nazla in northern Gaza.
02Why it matters
The story shows the human cost of the war in Gaza through one survivor who lost almost his entire family and spent months without shelter. It also highlights the strain on civil defence and recovery efforts amid widespread missing persons.
Answers are generated by AI from the story summary; they are not investment, health or legal advice.





