Historian in Gaza

Nothing could prepare historian Jean-Pierre Filiu for what he encountered in Gaza.

Noted historian of Gaza, Jean-Pierre Filiu, spent a month there between December and January 2025. This is his up-close, immersive documentary of reality inside the Palestinian enclave.

Filiu is a historian who specialises in Gazan history, and has travelled there regularly since 1980. He also knows the Arabic dialect spoken there. In December 2024, he once again crossed into Gaza, albeit under unimaginably different circumstances: at the time, only two convoys per week were allowed through the border crossings. In January 2025, Filiu returned.

Writing in a lyrical but frank tone, he reveals a portrait of grim reality, delivering a book that is in part war reportage, and in part a narrative of human suffering. People living in Gaza must fight to find fresh water, eat proper meals, move from one city to another, and struggle to obtain medical care if wounded. These quotidian experiences are described in a manner that forces us to confront what is happening in Gaza every single day.