we are not numbers

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

My traumatic ordeal in north Gaza is near-universal for the more than 2 million citizens of Gaza.

The simple joys of life have been replaced by unpredictability, turbulence, chaos, and total bleakness.

The hardship and suffering Gazans have had to endure made it feel as if nothing mattered — until the hunger hit.

Do not tell Gazans that hunger is a tragic consequence of war; they experience it as a deliberate policy of genocide.

Israeli forces invaded and ransacked a home, leaving behind destruction, graffiti, and excrement.

A mother refused to let her son risk danger by going to the aid trucks bringing flour. Her intuition proved correct.

Daily searches for food and water, bombings in the night, forced relocation. To survive, we hold onto hope.