They Were Smiling: Aisha and Huda Al Aqaad Are Still Missing

In December 2023, Israeli soldiers photographed themselves smiling beside two blindfolded Palestinian women they had just taken into military custody. The women were holding hands.Their names are Aisha Bakr Ahmed Al-Aqaad, 77, and her daughter, Huda Mohammed Assouli Al-Aqaad, 41. The photograph resurfaced two years later. By then, the Al-Aqaad family had spent those two years believing they were dead. They still don't know where they are.This episode tells the story behind the photograph, as told by Noura Al-Aqaad, Aisha's niece, who lived next door. It draws on testimony provided directly to Warrior Woman Gaza, the Sky News investigation, and legal documentation from the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN).Between 14,000 and 15,000 people remain unaccounted for in Gaza. Aisha and Huda are two of them.Read the full article at warriorwomangaza.substack.com and support the Al-Aqaad family directly at chuffed.org/project/144536Warrior Woman Gaza is a newsletter documenting the life, words, and survival of Noura Al-Aqaad and her family in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Every subscription and donation supports them directly. If this episode reached you, please share it. The names in this story deserve to be said out loud and kept. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit warriorwomangaza.substack.com/subscribe