Aid worker Mansour Shouman missing in Gaza

Palestinian-Canadian humanitarian worker in Gaza, Mansour Shouman, has been missing since Sunday, his mother and his team have said.

Mansour had been helping distribute aid to those in need in Gaza and was located in Khan Yunis’ Nasser Hospital when Israeli occupation forces besieged it and the medical facility came under attack.

He tried to flee to Rafah on Sunday but has not been heard from or seen since.

In an emotional plea posted on social media yesterday, Mansour’s mother said he hasn’t made contact with his family. “It is not normal for Mansour. Mansour never forgets his mother, or his wife, or his children. He would call and check up every day even if the internet service was cut.”

She went on to call on anyone with information, or anyone with diplomatic contacts to use them to locate Mansour.

Mansour, she explained, “would do the impossible everyday to meet you and speak to you [on live videos], to take from you strength and you take from him courage and positivity.”

“Mansour never forgot anyone, we don’t want to abandon or forget him.”

Mansour’s wife and five children were among the first Canadians to be evacuated from Gaza in November. At the time he told the BBC that he feels a responsibility to remain and document the events around him.

“As long as 2.3 million people are suffering, I believe that it is my religious obligation, my humanitarian obligation to stay and tell the story about what is really happening,” he said.

“I can speak English, I’ve lived in the West.”

Dire food crisis in southern Gaza: Residents struggle amidst Israeli attacks