1-Islam Mahmoud Al Sharaf was 35 years old and married to Youssef Al Sharaf, 37. He worked as a program producer at the Shebab Agency (@ShebabAgency), and they lived in Gaza City with their four children.
2-They had three daughters—Malak, 11; Yasmin, 6, who was a karate champion; and Nour, 3—and one son, Malik, 10. They lived in the area around Yarmouk Square and Jalaa Street, in a building where Youssef’s family—his parents, siblings, and uncles and aunts, along with their families —also lived.
3-At 4:00 p.m. on October 25, 2023, Israel carried out an airstrike on Yarmouk Square, firing more than 30 bunker-busting missiles and completely destroying eight residential buildings in the square. Islam and her four children were killed in the bombing, and their bodies were trapped under the rubble of the building, unable to be rescued.
4- Youssef was not in the building, but he lost more than just his wife and children. In total, he lost 37 family members—his parents, siblings, uncles, and nephews—spanning three generations of his family, among the more than 114 people killed (48 children and 37 women) and 260 wounded, from as many as nine families. Youssef was forced to flee to a tent near Al-Shifa Hospital, along with hundreds of other displaced families.
5- On March 19, 2024, he was taken prisoner by Israel during an IOF raid as part of the siege and attack on Al-Shifa Hospital. After stripping him naked, tying his hands behind his back, and blindfolding him, they interrogated and beat him; upon discovering he was a journalist, they transferred him from one prison to another until he was taken to Ketzot Prison in the Negev Desert, where he suffered abuse, malnutrition, illness, and torture for 10 months.
6-In February 2025, he was released in a hostage exchange as part of the ceasefire agreement. While visiting the ruins of his home, where his family lay buried under the rubble, he reported the torture he had suffered in Israeli prison to doctors and journalists and underwent knee surgery without anesthesia or medication. In July, he took in Mohammad, an orphaned boy the same age as his late son, who had also lost his entire family.
Drawing by Dolores Collado
Story to print: 036_Islam_Saraf_english.pdf
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