A Diary of Gaza’s Destruction

Based on a collection of diary entries written by the Palestinian poet and literary critic Talat Qudaih, this powerful essay is a “soulful lament” to Gaza. Qudaih’s beautiful, lyrical writing starkly contrasts to the terror of daily life in war zone that he is describing. As Quidaih writes, “The Gazan day weighs heavily, marked on a calendar of distorted humanity.” Whatever the future holds, these days have changed those who lived them forever.

Since the news of Oct. 7, the world has stood aghast, bearing witness to Gaza being transformed into a charnel house, seared as though in the throes of hellfire. The international community glimpsed the horrors of Gaza, engulfed in flames, its destruction tinged with the foul smell of burning flesh, an abhorrent spectacle of cataclysmic desolation.

Now, within the hollows of devastation, we stand as we watch our worlds crumble around us. A barrage of agonizing inquiries besieges us, propelling us toward oblivion: What of safety? Of dreams? These questions gnaw at our very being, both soul and flesh, in a manner never before encountered in our wartime experiences. Our minds are overwhelmed by an existential dilemma: Where shall we turn? How do we persevere through this obliteration? To which vast void will we finally ascend? From the outset, it was clear to me that only those marked by fate would weather the storm of this war.