NAZARETH — Mais al-Gharam reunited with her seven siblings in Israel on July 8, 2026, after securing Israeli passports for them following a 2024 Gaza airstrike that killed their parents and a younger brother.

An Israeli airstrike hit the family's home in Nuseirat at 6 a.m. on July 10, 2024. Doctors at Al Aqsa Hospital pronounced Murad al-Gharam, Amal Karim, and Maisara al-Gharam dead.

Mais al-Gharam is 23 years old and the eldest of eight siblings. Her father was from Gaza and her mother was a Palestinian citizen of Israel. Karim lived in Nazareth.

Murad al-Gharam and Karim married in 2002 after meeting while Murad worked in Israel on a temporary job permit. The couple moved to Gaza permanently and settled in Nuseirat. Murad worked as a taxi driver in Gaza.

The couple had seven children after Mais: Zuhour, 22; Jwaher, 21; Sabreen, 20; Ghfran, 17; Fady, 16; Maisara, 11; and Arjwan, 8. Mais secured Israeli passports for her Gaza-born siblings, who are ages 8 to 22. The siblings traveled in a Red Cross van to the Kerem Shalom crossing to undergo DNA testing.

They made a second trip to the Kerem Shalom crossing to sign paperwork for their Israeli passports. The siblings met outside the Kerem Shalom border crossing and drove to Nazareth.

"We never stopped being a family," Mais said. "But every day I wondered whether I’d see them again." Faraj al-Gharam, the maternal grandfather, said, "It’s like coming back from the grave." He added, "In Gaza, human life has no value." Jwaher said, "Family is the most important thing." Zuhour said, "We said, ‘Either we all leave together, or we all stay together.’"

Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Rights groups estimated there were more than 300 "divided families" with members on both sides of the border at the time of the attacks.

Israeli law generally bars the Palestinian spouses of Israeli citizens from obtaining permanent residency status. In 2019, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld a ban on Palestinian spouses of Israeli citizens from obtaining permanent residency, citing security concerns and the necessity of maintaining the demographic balance. In 2022, the Israeli government released a report stating that 86% of requests for the divided family procedure from Gaza were denied, with the most common reason being 'lack of proof of family relationship.'

Mais contacted HaMoked, an Israeli rights group, on the day of the July 10, 2024 airstrike. Mais and HaMoked drafted letters to the Israeli Interior Ministry and COGAT. The Israeli Interior Ministry initially rejected the request to apply for the divided family procedure because the mother was dead.

Israel cut off Gaza’s electricity and took out cellphone and internet networks during the war. The al-Gharam family was displaced at least seven times in the first half of 2024. The family eventually landed in Rafah in southern Gaza before returning to Nuseirat.

Jwaher sustained fractures to her leg and fingers in the airstrike. The siblings went to Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah after the airstrike. Sabreen said, "Suddenly the burden fell on us." The siblings opened a bakery in their neighborhood in Gaza.

Fady said, "We were forced — each of us — to take on a role that wasn’t ours." During the 2023-2024 Israel-Gaza conflict, 112,000 Palestinians were displaced, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), with many families separated as a result of the conflict. In 2024, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) conducted 328 airstrikes in Gaza, with 118 of those strikes hitting residential buildings, according to data from the Gaza Health Ministry.