A year ago today, six year old Hind Rajab was killed by an Israeli tank as she hid for safety in Gaza. Today, a Belgian foundation is hunting Israeli war criminals in her name.
Israel has never understood Palestinian resilience. We survived the Gaza Genocide, like catastrophes before it, through the call to Return home, the fuel for Palestinian survival. For Palestinians, the Right of Return is and will always be the Issue.
Late on Monday, 300,000 forcibly displaced Palestinians returned to Gaza City and northern Gaza for the first time since the start of Israel’s genocidal war.
Amid the many tragedies in Gaza, far too many go untold. We must not forget those who lost their lives while simply trying to get a loaf of bread or a sack of flour.
As Palestinians find some respite in the midst of a ceasefire in Gaza, many families have one important job to do before returning back to their homes: giving their loved ones, many who were buried in mass or temporary graves, a proper burial.
The Gaza genocide revealed imperial tensions between the U.S. and Israel which show the U.S. will sacrifice Zionist demands for its own interests.
Palestinians across Gaza are returning to the rubble of their homes to search for their missing loved ones. “I’m looking through the skulls the Civil Defense collects trying to identify my sons,” Rafah resident Mahmoud Al-Qatati tells Mondoweiss.
The recent ceasefire celebrations with Hamas fighters in the heart of Gaza City exposed Israel’s military failures, and also showed how Palestinian joy is a direct affront to the petty gods who seek to rule over us.
In the final hours before the Gaza ceasefire I asked my friends and family, “What’s the first thing you’ll do?” Through their answers, I came to understand the truce was not a moment of joy but a chance for our postponed grief to finally surface.
Although trained as a social researcher, when the war began in October 2023 I joined the search and rescue team in the Gaza City neighborhood of al-Shuja’iyya. Here are some of my stories of being a first responder during the Gaza genocide.