The last message that Mai Hussein received from her son before he went missing in Gaza was an expression of care: "good night Mama, I love you, talk to you tomorrow. I know you are asleep."
"In the morning, I sent him a message," she said. "He didn't receive it."
It's been nine days now since Hussein has heard from her son, Mansour Shouman, a Palestinian-Canadian who stayed behind in war-torn Gaza, after his family fled, in order to document the devastation around him and aid the 2.3 million citizens displaced amid Israel's bombardment.
Over the last four months, Shouman has been sharing his experiences with international media outlets and through social media as a citizen journalist, as well as working to dispense humanitarian aid.
But loved ones and team members who work with him say they haven't heard from him for more than a week. Unverified reports that he was taken in by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have only increased his loved ones' concerns for his safety.
Now, his mother is pleading for the Canadian government to step in and help find her son.
"He is a very good man," she told CTV News Channel on Monday from Abu Dhabi. "He wasn't hired by anyone. He was working by his heart. And then he tried to help people as much as he can, with his voice, trying to make them steadfast, trying to make them have hope. Even me.
"I am very scared, I always clash with him … he gets upset if I tell him 'come back.' He said, 'support me, mama. It's a much bigger thing than you and me. It's 2.3 million Gaza people, mama.'"
Global Affairs Canada has confirmed it is investigating the disappearance of a Canadian man in Gaza, stating Sunday it was aware of a missing citizen in the region, without naming Shouman.
"Canadian officials continue to monitor the situation closely and are in direct contact with the family members," the agency said in a statement to CTV News.
"Due to privacy considerations, no further information can be disclosed."
Shouman is a former Calgarian, who used to work as an oil and gas consultant. In 2022, he moved to Gaza with his wife and five children. Hussein said his wife is from Gaza and that they wanted the children to get to know their extended family.
But after the Oct. 7 attack in Israel by Hamas militants, which killed 1,200 people and saw roughly 250 hostages taken, Israel responded with a brutal aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip, forcing citizens such as Shouman and his family to flee their homes.
More than 26,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Daily aerial strikes and an aggressive ground assault by Israel have pushed Palestinians south in the crowded enclave, packed into the few hospitals or refugee camps that remain, with food, water and medical aid scarce for citizens on the ground.
Last week, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel needed to take measures to prevent a genocide occurring against Palestinians, including ensuring the provision of humanitarian aid to the region.
Throughout the chaos, Shouman has served as a voice for Palestinians in Gaza, reflecting the reality of the conditions they are facing.
The last video Shouman recorded and posted to his social media accounts shows him against a dark background with the hood of his coat pulled up.
"We can hear it all around us here at Nasser Hospital," he says in the video, referring to the largest remaining health facility in Gaza. The hospital is situated in Khan Younis, which has seen heavy fighting over the last week.
Right after that video was recorded, Shouman sent his goodnight message to his mother in Abu Dhabi.
For the next two days, Hussein believed it was a communications blackout in Gaza that was preventing her messages from reaching her son. But when she still couldn't get a hold of him, she reached out to the team in Gaza that has been working with him during the war.
They told her they also weren't getting responses from Shouman.
That was when the fear hit. "Where is my son?" Hussein said. "I had that feeling — that he disappeared."
Zaheera Soomar, a colleague of Shouman who is based in Toronto, told CTV News Channel on Sunday that the last time they had heard from Shouman was 4 p.m. on Jan. 21.
"It's been really worrying," she said, adding that Shouman had been facilitating humanitarian aid such as food, water and tents, along with his reporting.
She said they later heard from their contacts on the ground that Shouman had left Khan Younis to head to Rafah, and that on the way, he was reportedly arrested by the IDF.
When Hussein heard that Shouman might be in the hands of the IDF — reports which have not been independently verified yet — her fear only increased.
She has been in contact with Canadian authorities, but they haven't been able to tell her much, she said.
"I urge Canada government to just try and get a confirmation from Israel or IDF, is Mansour with them or not," she begged. "And if he is with them, please, please try not to let them torture him or hurt him. And just bring him back safe. Try your best, please. I have nobody to ask but God and the Canada government."
Although she has been afraid for his safety for months, she said she wasn't surprised that her son chose to stay behind in Gaza, even when his wife and children were able to escape through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt in November.
"That's Mansour," she said. "He has the education, he has the religion, he has the heart, he has the mind to do all this."
Caring for others has been a part of his life since the beginning, she said. When he was a child, they used to hold his birthdays at the homes of friends who were less fortunate, so that the family could claim to be tired and bow out early, leaving the cake and sweets to children who might not otherwise get to have such treats.
"And then we go celebrate (the birthday) somewhere else. And he always wanted that."
Over the past few months, whenever she would ask him to leave Gaza to be safe, he would tell her he had a mission to complete.
"I really wanted him to be beside me," Hussein said. "But he said 'mama ... how can I leave these people'?"
Shouman told CTV National News in November that he felt it was his duty to be a voice for Palestinians in Gaza since he could speak English and could accurately reflect the situation on the ground to international media, particularly as the crisis deepened, with space running out in UN-run schools and refugee camps, and the risk of disease and malnutrition running rampant.
"If everyone like me decided to leave, then who would be left to help the people here?" he said at the time.
There has been an uproar across Canada since Shouman went missing. A petition demanding the safe return of Shouman has garnered more than 149,000 signatures since it was first shared on Saturday. The Muslim Council of Calgary (MCC), which Shouman used to be a member of, urged the government to step up, in a Monday press release.
"His reports have been vital in bringing international attention to the plight of civilians caught in this unsatisfiable war," the statement read. "The MCC and the local Muslim community are extremely worried about the safety of our brother Mansour Shouman and the well-being of countless innocent civilians."
At least 83 journalists and media workers have been killed so far in the conflict, including 76 Palestinian journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Hussein is hoping that Canada will be able to do something to help bring her son to safety, directly calling on the government to help.
"I did work hard to make my children Canadian, because I'm a single mother and I wanted my children to have a strong government that would support them," she said. "And I think this is the time you show me that."
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