Gaza (QNN)- A Palestinian mother in the Gaza Strip has appealed for international intervention to reunite with her three children, who were evacuated to France at the start of the Israeli genocide and later placed in state care after being forcibly removed from their parents.
Raghda Al-Sheikh has been separated from her husband and children, Rabhi (11), Nour (10), and Hussam al-Din (8), since they left Gaza with assistance from the French Foreign Ministry during the early days of the Israelu genocide. She remained in Gaza, expecting to join them later, but has been unable to leave.
According to a report by Al Jazeera Net, communication between the mother and her family was disrupted amid ongoing Israeli bombardment, forced displacement and telecommunications outages in Gaza. The children later arrived in France in December 2023 with their father and grandfather.
On July 15, 2024, French child protection authorities took away the children from their father and placed them in a care facility, restricting direct contact with their parents. The family says the decision was based on abuse allegations they deny and claim were not supported by medical or school evidence.
During a court hearing on March 30, 2026, the children expressed a desire to reunite with their parents, while lawyers and social services called for maintaining family contact.
Al-Sheikh says she has been denied regular communication with her children for nearly a year, with contact limited to written messages. She also expressed concern over changes in their language and cultural connection.
Now displaced in Gaza City after her home was destroyed, she is living in a shelter under severe conditions.
She has called on authorities to allow her to travel to France or for her children to be returned, while rejecting the allegations against her husband and describing him as a devoted father.
She expressed her concern by saying: “I am very afraid for them. I fear that they will be taken from me forever or given to another family who do not share our religion or nationality, because after some time they will forget our religion, customs, and traditions.”
She continues: “At the moment, I know nothing about them. I do not know who is taking care of them, who is taking them to school, and who is overseeing their upbringing, hygiene, and all their affairs.”
Over 1.9 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been internally displaced inside of the Gaza Strip, many of them multiple times over; and over 1.2 million people, almost 60 percent of Gaza Strip’s population, have lost their homes, the UN said last week.
Six months into the Gaza ceasefire, which took effect on October 10, the Israeli occupation continues its genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave, killing hundreds and restricting the entry of desperately-needed aid, with no pause in the attacks or the suffering.
