A Norwegian family believes their grandmother was taken by the Israeli army in Gaza – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

-She was always kind and gentle. I admire her incredibly much,” says 27-year-old Moataz Muhib Al-Nawati about her grandmother, who has now disappeared without a trace.

According to Al-Nawati's family, Israeli soldiers took the 94-year-old woman on March 21.

She was at the time in the family home in the Al-Rimal area in the northern Gaza Strip, only a few kilometers from Al-Shifa Hospital.

The family says the Israeli army told them that the elderly woman, who is paralyzed and has severe dementia, will be transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital, an area that has been under Israeli siege since last week.

Without allowing any family members to accompany her.

– She is a sick and elderly lady. Al-Nisa’i says, she needs help from my aunt.

NRK contacted the IDF and presented the criticism directed at them in this case. They told NRK that they are working to destroy Hamas infrastructure in Gaza and that they are following international laws and regulations to limit harm to civilians.

The IDF also says it is difficult to provide an answer to a specific missing person, especially with the limited information NRK has provided about the woman.

Their house is supposed to be broken into

Four months after Israeli forces first stormed Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa Hospital, claiming that Hamas was based there, Israeli forces returned last week.

They justified this by the fact that high-ranking members of Hamas are said to have resided in the hospital and to have used it to lead attacks against Israel.

After the storming, the Israeli authorities reportedly asked residents of the Al-Rimal neighborhood to evacuate the area.

– To those of you residing in the Al-Rimal area, Al-Shifa Hospital and the surrounding areas: To ensure your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the west, IDF spokesman Avichai Adraee wrote in Arabic. On X March 18.

Among those who should have been urged to evacuate was the Nawati family.

According to Moataz Al-Nawati, Israeli forces allegedly entered their home and ordered the women in the family to move south.

They were not allowed to take their grandmother with them.

In addition, the remaining men must have been stripped naked and taken for interrogation. They are said to have been subsequently released and ordered to evacuate the area.

NRK cannot confirm this, but Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul, who was in the area, can He confirmed that he himself witnessed this.

-We were forced to take off all our clothes, sit on our knees and put our hands behind our heads for an hour. Then they handcuffed us and blindfolded us. The journalist said after the incident that it lasted twelve hours.

He was asked to leave Dadi

According to Al-Nawati, the Israeli army ordered the family to leave the grandmother at home alone.

Although the family says they begged the Israeli army to allow one of their relatives to stay with them.

Later, her relatives saw the soldiers carrying her in a chair on their way to Al-Shifa Hospital.

– Why do you think the Israeli army took your grandmother?

– We do not know. We have heard that the army usually hands over elderly prisoners to the Red Crescent, but this has not been confirmed, Al-Nasa'i says with concern.

They are now desperately searching for information about their grandmother's whereabouts.

– How can you stand here in Norway now and have no control, and cannot help your grandmother who is in Gaza?

-It's so sad to know that you can't do much about it. It is painful to think that a 94-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease is now alone and separated from her family.

Al-Nisa'i asks the Israeli army to assure them that the grandmother will return home safely.

– Although no one is truly safe in Gaza as things are now. But at least she's with her family, where she belongs, he says.

Red Crescent: – Many of those searching for their loved ones

Several sources in the area surrounding Al-Shifa Hospital speak of a tragic situation, with people trapped in their homes while fighting rages in the streets.

Raed Al Nems, the official spokesman Red Crescent, He says many are desperately searching for their loved ones at the hospital – where many Palestinians have taken refuge to escape Israeli attacks.

He also told NRK that the Red Crescent is now looking closely into the case of the Nawati family.

– Al-Nims says that the Israeli army arrested many civilians in Al-Shifa Hospital, including the elderly and children.

According to the spokesman, Israeli soldiers arrested patients and refugees.

Many of them will also be children and the elderly.

– Do you have an overview of the number of detainees?

– No, but we have many letters from families searching for their loved ones.

He says the situation is chaotic and rescue workers are struggling to work while Israeli attacks continue.

Comparing hospitals to war zones

Rabah, a father of five children who spoke to Reuters, says that the area surrounding the hospital looks like a war zone.

Eyewitnesses who spoke to Reuters said that several bodies were dumped in the streets surrounding the hospital as a result of the Israeli siege.

A Red Crescent spokesperson confirmed this to NRK.

– We receive reports of bodies and wounded lying on the roads. Al-Nims says that the Israeli army refuses rescue teams access to the wounded and dead.

According to people inside the hospital, anyone moving inside the hospital is at risk of being shot by Israeli snipers.

Others also say patients and staff do not have access to food, water or electricity.