A young Gaza boy, who was widely reported to have been killed in Israeli airstrikes earlier this year, has been found alive and healthy, according to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The child was declared dead by a former GHF employee who misidentified him as Amir.
The group has now confirmed the boy's real identity as Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamden, an eight-year-old boy known as Abboud. The organisation said he had been hiding with his mother in Gaza since May. He has now been safely relocated with his mother to an undisclosed location outside the war-ravaged narrow strip.
GHF's humanitarian team, along with the help of American veterans and local community members in Gaza, traced the boy and confirmed his identity.
The organisation said that Aguilar, a disgruntled former contractor, claimed that Abood, whom he wrongly called Amir, was killed outside a GHF site. "He said the boy kissed his hand and thanked him, and that these were his final words," the GHF stated.
The organisation said Aguilar added more dramatic details to the story that Amir was shot in the torso and leg, and he personally watched him die. "Aguilar spread this story across global media, endangering the boy with sensitive details that put them in the crosshairs of Hamas," the group said.
GHF said they launched a careful, high-risk search. The organisation added that the boy's identity was verified through multiple methods, including biometric analysis and even the shirt Abood was wearing on the day Aguilar claimed he had been killed.
"Our team was able to quietly trace Abood's family. By relying on the deep trust built with the community through our daily aid delivery, we found Abood and his biological mother," the organisation said in a statement.
GHF Executive Chair Johnnie Moore told Fox News Digital, "We are overjoyed and deeply relieved that Abboud is safe, and that this story ends in hope."
"Too many people, including in the press and civil society, were quick to spread unverified claims without asking the most basic questions," Moore further said, adding, "When a child's life is at stake, facts must matter more than headlines."
Over the last 23 months, at least 64,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli ground and aerial bombardments of neighbourhoods, hospitals, schools and later camps housing the displaced population. On Thursday, another barrage of Israeli strikes killed 28 people, mostly women and children, AP reported.
Apart from the never-ending destruction of the narrow strip, the population has also been subjected to "man-made" famine after Israel blocked all medical, food and water aid from reaching the Gaza Strip.
