we are not numbers

emerging writers from Palestine tell their stories and advocate for their human rights

Khaled Mohammed El-Hissy

    Khaled El-Hissy is a writer from Jabalia in the Gaza Strip. He was an English language and literature student at the Islamic University of Gaza. He is a hard-working student who loves studying, reading, and mostly writing. Khaled has a dual citizenship: Palestinian and Ukrainian.

    He loves writing narratives and features about the hardships he — or any other Palestinian from Gaza — encounters. Khaled mainly writes to deliver a vivid picture to the world about what any normal Palestinian faces daily  merely because they are Palestinian.

    Khaled was a student of Dr. Refaat Alareer, whom Israel killed. Israel also killed Khaled’s best friends, Mohammed Hamo and Alhassan Mattar. This made Khaled realize that resistance is the only way to liberate Palestine.  “I strongly believe in writing as a way to resist,” Khaled explained. “Palestine will only be liberated through resistance — even through writing as a means of resistance.”

    Khaled’s writings are published with We Are Not Numbers, Palestine Chronicle, and the Electronic Intifada.”

    Current as of July 2024

    my work

    A mother’s efforts to obtain treatment for her daughter’s serious health problems are hindered by Israel’s war on Gaza.
    A group of four best friends is torn apart by the war in Gaza.
    A family in Gaza sought to bring their sick grandmother home from war-torn Ukraine.
    “Wars are in every home: in Ukraine and in Palestine. Where should I escape now?” 
    Even dual citizenship does not spare the traveler when trying to exit Gaza.
    As the Israeli F16s crowded the skies and dropped their bombs, I felt as if the whole world was plotting against me.