MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

7-year-old Chilean boy living in Gaza Strip is found

“Now the immediate problem is to set up a place to stay, in Gaza,” Ghassan's uncle said in a video released on social media

Chilean media reported early Friday the finding of 7-year-old Ghassan Sahurie, a 7-year-old boy of Chilean-Palestinian descent who was missing in the Gaza Strip.

“I received a call from my sister-in-law, from her phone, [and] she was able to communicate with me, I was also able to talk to my nephew Ghassan, it is no longer a contact by third parties, but it was a direct contact,” Gustavo Zehnder, an uncle of the boy, said in a video posted on social media. “I was also able to talk to my nephew,” he added.

Ghassan's family in Chile had lost all contact since early October. Through an Instagram reel, the boy's uncle reported the finding of the minor, after a call from his sister-in-law from the conflict zone in the Middle East. ”I have an important message to give to all those who have been in recent weeks interested in my family problem (...) and have been asking constantly, sending many messages of strength, encouragement, or have prayed for us,“ Zehnder also announced.

He also said both Ghassan and his mother had been slightly injured and were staying overnight in the courtyard of a hospital in Palestinian territory. ”In short, (Ghassan) is in the hospital we knew he was in. He is camping in the courtyard. He would be together with his mother and with his siblings. They had been slightly injured, their house was completely destroyed,“ he explained.

Ghassan was living with his family in Iran when his father, a Chilean national, died of cancer. Little over three months ago, he moved with his mother to Gaza, where his maternal grandparents live.

”Now the immediate problem is to set up a place to stay, in Gaza. My sister-in-law asked me for that favor. I am trying to see if I can get something from the UN institutions that are there. Or also some embassies,” Zehnder also said regarding the family's plan to seek temporary refuge in Egypt. For the moment they do not want to leave because they have to take care of the child's grandparents.

Chilean diplomatic authorities in Palestine and in Santiago were also working on the case, it was reported.