LONDON: Canadian-Palestinian journalist Mansour Shouman is believed to have gone missing more than a week after his last message, in which he expressed a sense of urgency, saying he did not “have a lot of time.”
Unverified reports from local aid workers, whom Shouman was assisting, suggest that he has been taken into custody by the Israel Defence Forces.
“They said they saw him leave the Nasser Hospital to go to Rafah and that he was apprehended on his way by the IDF,” said Shadi Sakr, a member of the volunteer team in Canada that helps Shouman post videos online.
Another member of the Canadian team informed The Canadian Press that three eyewitnesses claimed to have seen Shouman being taken by the Israeli army as he departed from Khan Younis to go to Rafah.
Sakr mentioned that the last communication from Shouman was on Jan. 21 at 3:02 p.m. ET, when he sent a video from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
“Please get this back to me quickly. I don’t have a lot of time,” Shouman reportedly said.
The Israeli army has yet to issue a comment on the matter.
Canadian officials have acknowledged the situation, stating that they are aware of a man from Calgary missing in Gaza and are “continuing to monitor the situation closely.”
Shouman, who obtained Canadian citizenship in 2006, relocated to Palestine with his family from Calgary in 2022.
Despite his family’s relocation to the UAE in November, Shouman chose to remain in Gaza to assist in reporting on the situation.
In the months that followed, he used social media as a platform to provide daily updates on the conflict, reaching millions of English-speaking individuals.
Mai Hussein, Shouman’s mother, made a heartfelt appeal to the authorities on her son’s page on X, expressing her anguish.
“My heart is burning. I want to hear news about him,” she pleaded.
Shouman’s disappearance has triggered outrage and deep concern across social media platforms and throughout the streets of Canada.
An online petition calling for his immediate release has garnered over 120,000 signatures, while protests advocating for his freedom took place in both Ottawa and Calgary over the weekend.
