Essay Family Healthcare Work & Education
A first-person account of a family's dependence on UN services across several generations.
Account by Nour Abo Aisha
Stated context Writing from the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City
Published by Al Jazeera
Date of account 8 August 2026 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Testimony Healthcare Loss Family
First-person testimony from a Palestinian aid worker describing being injured and the loss of relatives.
Account by Ashraf Afifi
Stated context A Palestinian member of Médecins Sans Frontières staff in Gaza
Published by Médecins Sans Frontières — Voices from the Field
Date of account 17 July 2026 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Hunger & Aid Family Daily Life
An account of finding food and water for an extended household over a period of severe shortage.
Account by Noor Alyacoubi
Stated context Writing from Gaza with her husband and daughter
Published by Literary Hub
Date of account 21 October 2025 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Hunger & Aid Family Art & Culture
A writer's account of daily survival, hunger and the effort to keep working.
Account by Akram Al-Sourani
Stated context A writer and parent in Gaza; translated from Arabic
Published by PEN America
Date of account 25 September 2025 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Diary Daily Life Displacement Healthcare
A young nurse records nine consecutive days, from trying to reach an aid distribution point to receiving an order to leave the area.
Account by Karim (first name only, as published)
Stated context A nurse in his early twenties in Gaza City, displaced many times
Published by The Guardian
Date of account 23 August 2025 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Interview Identity withheld Displacement Loss Hope
The long-running anonymous diarist speaks about the home, work and city he left behind, and about leaving Gaza.
Account by Anonymous / identity withheld
Stated context A diarist from Gaza City who later left the territory
Published by The Guardian
Date of account 14 July 2025 The Guardian published this diarist without a name for his safety.
Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Children & Youth Daily Life Loss
A personal essay on a childhood spent within earshot of drones.
Account by Ghada Abu Muaileq
Stated context Writing from Gaza about growing up under surveillance drones
Published by We Are Not Numbers
Date of account 1 May 2025 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Displacement Loss Daily Life
A first-person account of returning to a home city that has been changed beyond recognition.
Account by Maram Humaid
Stated context A journalist returning to Gaza City
Published by Al Jazeera
Date of account 18 February 2025 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Family Hunger & Aid Healthcare
A personal essay on growing up in a refugee camp and the services the family relied on.
Account by Malak Hijazi
Stated context Writing from Jabalia refugee camp
Published by Mondoweiss
Date of account 13 February 2025 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Displacement Family Loss
A personal essay connecting a grandfather's 1948 displacement to the writer's own.
Account by Asem Al Jerjawi
Stated context A writer and translator in Gaza
Published by Al Jazeera
Date of account 22 December 2024 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Loss Hunger & Aid Family
A short essay built around a conversation with a building guard about what each of them has lost.
Account by Ahmad Bassiouny
Stated context Writing from central Gaza; translated by Ibrahim Fawzy
Published by PEN Transmissions
Date of account 1 October 2024 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Diary Family Displacement Hope
Dated diary entries about nights spent waiting for news and looking through old family photographs.
Account by Nahil Mohana
Stated context A writer in Gaza with her daughter
Published by Literary Hub
Date of account 4 September 2024 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Displacement Family Hope
A young writer remembers the house she left and what she took with her.
Account by Nour Elassy
Stated context A 21-year-old writer displaced from Gaza City to Deir el-Balah
Published by Al Jazeera
Date of account 18 August 2024 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Identity withheld Displacement Family Loss
An account of leaving Rafah and learning what had happened to the family house.
Account by Anonymous / identity withheld
Stated context Writing after leaving Rafah
Published by We Are Not Numbers
Date of account 7 August 2024 Published by We Are Not Numbers without a byline; the site does not state a reason.
Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Displacement Family Daily Life
A writer describes repeated evacuation orders and the damaged apartment her family moved into.
Account by Ruwaida Amer
Stated context Writing from the Khan Younis area
Published by Al Jazeera
Date of account 20 July 2024 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Testimony Healthcare Loss Family
A doctor's account of the hours during and after an attack on the camp where he lived and worked.
Account by Dr Hazem Maloh
Stated context A Palestinian doctor living in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp
Published by Médecins Sans Frontières — Voices from the Field
Date of account 10 June 2024 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Daily Life Family Loss
A young writer recalls ordinary plans interrupted by the opening days of the war.
Account by Aseel Yaghi
Stated context Writing from northern Gaza
Published by We Are Not Numbers
Date of account 10 April 2024 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Diary Daily Life Family Hunger & Aid
An instalment of a serial diary about fuel, transport and the small decisions of a single day.
Account by Ziad (first name only, as published)
Stated context A 35-year-old resident of Gaza writing a serial diary
Published by The Guardian
Date of account 7 February 2024 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Diary Daily Life Loss Hope
A diary entry written after more than one hundred days of war, on exhaustion and being watched from far away.
Account by Ziad (first name only, as published)
Stated context A 35-year-old resident of Gaza writing a serial diary
Published by The Guardian
Date of account 29 January 2024 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Diary Daily Life Family Loss
Dated diary entries describing shelter, scarcity and bombardment in the first weeks of the war.
Account by Atef Abu Saif
Stated context A writer who was in Gaza with his son when the war began
Published by The Guardian
Date of account 13 November 2023 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Diary Family Children & Youth Daily Life
A diary recorded as voice notes during the first weeks of the war.
Account by Fidaa Alaraj
Stated context A Palestinian aid worker and mother of five in Gaza
Published by Oxfam GB
Date of account 31 October 2023 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Earlier period Children & Youth Family Art & Culture
A memory of a school performance in childhood and what interrupted it.
Account by Fatima Elzahraa Marwan Shaat
Stated context Writing from Gaza
Published by We Are Not Numbers
Date of account 1 September 2023 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Essay Earlier period Displacement Daily Life Family
An essay about displaced families sheltering in a school opposite the writer's home.
Account by Atef Abu Saif
Stated context Writing from Jabalia refugee camp
Published by We Are Not Numbers
Date of account 8 January 2015 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Diary Earlier period Family Children & Youth Daily Life
A father's diary about collecting water during pauses in fighting and how his children coped.
Account by Mohammed Dawwas
Stated context A father in Gaza writing during the 2008–09 war
Published by The Independent
Date of account 17 January 2009 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) Diary Earlier period Daily Life Hunger & Aid Work & Education
A diary kept during fuel and water shortages in Gaza in early 2008.
Account by Rana Elhindi
Stated context An aid worker in Gaza during the 2008 blockade crisis
Published by BBC News
Date of account 24 January 2008 Read the original account (opens in a new tab) 
Curated Humanity