Canadian aid worker Mansour Shouman 'disappeared' by Israel soldiers

Palestinian-Canadian aid worker Mansour Shouman has been disappeared by Israeli occupation forces, eyewitnesses have said.

Mansour went missing last week as he tried to flee to Rafah after occupation forces surrounded the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza’s Khan Yunis.

Activists who post on his social media channels updated followers on his plight saying: “We have learnt that Mansour Shouman, a father, a son and humanitarian may have been abducted by the IDF [occupation forces], as reported by several eyewitness accounts.”

They added that he “was reportedly taken away while passing through a safe passage between Khan Younis and Rafah on Tuesday January 23rd, 2024.”

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They called for “immediate action for Mansour’s safety & return to his family.”

Protests have been held in Canada calling for his release, with his mum attending the event at Calgary, Canada. She urged attendees not to “forget Mansour, he’s a civilian… he stayed there to uplift the words of the people of Gaza to the international world.”

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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.”