How do parents in Gaza, who are dealing with their own trauma and fear, help their children endure yet another Israeli attack? One parent tells Ziad Ali she attempted to lie to her daughter by saying the explosions were just fireworks, but her child already knows too much. “My daughter did not believe me. I was such a mess. She told me — ‘Mommy, this is a war, not fireworks.’”

Maqlouba, musafan, and somaqiya. Ziad Ali shares three recipes from friends, collecting oral histories behind the carefully curated spices and mixtures of Palestinian heritage cooking.

Having lived through the Intifada, various escalations and four wars in Gaza, I have realized that what doesn’t kill you does not make you stronger, it makes you more vulnerable.