Gaza Herald – After two years of loss, waiting, prayers, and searching among the bodies of the killed, “Abu Yahya” returned to his family, not as a long-absent missing person but as a martyr laid to rest, closing the chapter of disappearance forever.
His wife, Asmaa Al-Sanea, said:
“Praise be to God, I have found my husband. I accept your condolences today on his martyrdom,” after she was able to identify him among the bodies handed over by the Israeli occupation.
She added: “I recognized him from his clothes, and I only saw part of his body. I thank God for allowing me to bid farewell to his pure body and for him to have a martyr’s grave.”
Describing the moment of identification, she said:
“I do not claim strength or resilience. I completely collapsed when I learned he was among the bodies.”
She continued: “Two years, with all their nights, I lived burning in the pain of separation. I never ruled out his martyrdom, but when I saw him, it felt as if I had never expected his absence before.”
“We found Abu Yahya”
Asmaa recounts that she received the news on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, when her family informed her that her husband was among a batch of bodies handed over.
She said: “I was at my friend’s home comforting her after she identified her husband’s body.”
She added: “While I was comforting her, I felt something strange, as if loss was knocking at my door, and I wished he would return, even as a martyr.”
She returned home and began searching through the identification platform on the Ministry of Health website in Gaza called “Sehati.” Before she finished searching, the phone rang:
“We have found Abu Yahya.”
She described the moment:
“I ran to the hospital despite the heaviness inside me. When I arrived, I saw him lying inside the ambulance, his body complete as if he were sleeping. I recognized him from his clothes, then I cried, praised God, and felt overwhelming and contradictory emotions that cannot be described.”
She added: “In that moment, I felt pride, as if I am the wife of a man who fought until his last moment, and whom God chose as a martyr.”
A never-ending search
Asmaa described her journey of searching: “Every time new bodies were announced, I prepared as if I were going into a new battle. I gathered my strength and began searching for my husband among the published photos on the ‘Sehati’ platform.”
She added: “I used to look for a mole on his right cheek that I knew well, and for his clothes, anything that would call out to me and say: this is Abu Yahya.”
But she said the features often looked similar due to the severity of injuries and degradation, making identification extremely difficult.
She continued: “Each time I ended up with two images in my heart: the image of a loved one I did not find, and the images of great martyrs that will never leave my memory.”
“A hero deserving of martyrdom”
Despite the pain, Asmaa said:
“It is not easy, but Abu Yahya deserves it. He is a hero and the crown of my head. He is our martyr.”
She said she was prepared to receive condolences for his martyrdom as a form of honoring him.
After his burial, mourners visited her home, offering condolences on his return after two years, this time as a martyr.
Salama Al-Arouqi is among dozens of Palestinians whose bodies were returned to Gaza years after their disappearance, without knowledge of their fate during that period.
Despite the grief, his wife says the honor of his martyrdom eases some of the pain, and she whispers a promise to him: to take care of their children, Naoum, Yahya, and Elena.
