The Al‑Rayyes family is one of 1,410 Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip who have been completely erased from the civil registry. Photo credit: Hunter Wild, Facebook.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza has reported staggering new figures revealing the extent of the devastation inflicted by Israel’s ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip. As of July 1, 2025, the Israeli occupation army has committed 7,160 massacres targeting Palestinian families, highlighting a systematic pattern of violence that experts and humanitarian agencies have widely condemned as a campaign of genocide. Source: Gaza Herald, July 1, 2025.
On January 29, 2026, the IDF accepted the estimate of the Gaza Health Ministry—run by Hamas—that approximately 71,000 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli assault on Gaza. This number does not include thousands of missing residents still buried under the rubble. Source: Haaretz.
Throughout the genocide in Gaza, then‑President Joe Biden repeatedly disputed and cast doubt on the suffering and death toll reported by the Gaza Health Ministry.
What does it mean when an entire family is erased from a civil registry?
It means that all of their names and records have been removed from official government databases that track births, deaths, marriages, and other vital events. It also means, no legal or administrative recognition of their lineage or household. In the context of Gaza, this has become a stark symbol of mass loss and systemic targeting.
According to official data published by the Gaza Health Ministry:
1,410 Palestinian families have been completely erased from the civil registry. These families collectively account for 5,444 martyrs (For a population of roughly 2 million Palestinians, that is the equivalent of 931,146 Americans), with no survivors left to carry on their names or memories. Among them was the Al-Rayyes family who were massacred on November 5 and on November 8, 2026.
Hunter Wild, a chemical engineer from Texas, shared a post in Arabic on his Facebook page about Fatima Al‑Rayyes, who was living abroad when her family was wiped out. Her diary entry was titled: “My Entire Family Erased from Gaza Civil Registry: The Al‑Rayyes Family Massacre.”
“On November 5, 2023, there was a warm, close‑knit family consisting of a father, a mother, their children, and grandchildren.”
The family members were:
- Azmi Al‑Rayyes (father)
- Inaya Al‑Rayyes (mother)
- Dr. Maysara Azmi Al‑Rayyes
- Dr. Areeb Azmi Al‑Rayyes (dentist)
- Eng. Mu’ayyad Azmi Al‑Rayyes
- Muhammad Azmi Al‑Rayyes
- Their sister, Azza, and her three children: Karim, Adam, and Sham
Fatima wrote:
“Our steadfast prayer every Ramadan—year after year—was always: ‘May God bring this month back to us with our numbers increased, not diminished.’ Yet when this Ramadan arrived, my entire family was among the missing. My only solace is that God chose them as martyrs, just as they had wished.”
Nearly thirty days had passed since October 7 and the beginning of the brutal aggression against Gaza. For thirty nights, the family endured fear and terror—nights spent believing salvation was near, yet trying to conceal their fear from Fatima, who was abroad.
They all perished in the bombardment carried out by the Israeli military against their six‑story home in the Al‑Sina’a district.
Not all family members were killed immediately. Two sons—Mu’ayyad and Muhammad—survived because they were outside the home at the moment of the strike. Also surviving were Muhammad’s children:
- Azmi Muhammad Al‑Rayyes
- Mayada Muhammad Al‑Rayyes
Mu’ayyad and Muhammad spent hours attempting to recover the bodies of their family members for burial. On November 6 and 7, they managed to retrieve only their father, their mother, and their nephew Karim.
On November 8, after burying those they had recovered, the two brothers returned to continue searching for the others. Mere hours after the burial, Israeli aircraft struck the home again with two missiles. Mu’ayyad and Muhammad were killed instantly.
In a matter of seconds, all remaining hope vanished—and with it, the last support system Fatima had in this world. She had praised God when she taught her two brothers had survived, believing they were her consolation and her remaining pillar of strength. Yet they, too, were taken from her.
A Life Cut Off
Fatima Al‑Rayyes is now like a branch severed from a tree. Her devastating loss—one I still remember vividly—serves as a reminder of the pain and suffering thousands of Palestinian families endure daily in Gaza and the rest of occupied Palestine.
Caption for photo below: At least 310 bodies have reportedly been found buried in two mass graves near hospitals raided by Israeli forces, with the UN warning that there could be “many more” victims. Photo credit: SBS.com.au.
Mahmoud El‑Yousseph is a Palestinian freelance writer and retired U.S. Air Force veteran. He writes on U.S. foreign policy, Middle East affairs, and justice. Email: elyousseph6@yahoo.com
