Young man documents Gaza’s untold stories of Israel’s genocide in book
Amid the ongoing and unfathomable agony caused by Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, a young displaced man is writing a book to express acute Palestinian suffering and tell human stories that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Wasim Said’s book, Witness to the Hellfire of Genocide, chronicles two years of unrelenting war, as well as repeated forced displacement as a result of the relentless Israeli bombardment, ground invasion, destruction and forced starvation.
The 24-year-old shared his story with Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, describing how he mostly writes inside a tent with nothing in it, including no real protection from the scorching heat in summer or the freezing winter cold and heavy rains.
“Displacement sites and tents have become part of our lives. We’ve had to find ways to adapt to this misery – even though it’s almost impossible,” he said. Every chapter in Said’s book is named after a person, a place, or a memory he refuses to let disappear.
Wasim Said sits in a cemetery, looking at the rubble of buildings bombed by the Israeli military in Gaza
Hamas slams new PA election law as exclusionary
Hamas has condemned the new elections law issued by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, saying it effectively forces municipal candidates to commit to the “PLO’s political programme”, which amounts to recognising Israel.
In a statement, Hamas said the law represents “a dangerous infringement on citizens’ right to freely choose their representatives” and an explicit attempt to exclude influential Islamic and independent political forces active in key cities across the West Bank.
It said the legislation seeks to reshape the political landscape to serve specific factions within the PA, aligning with “Israeli and US pressure”.
The law would push the West Bank further towards “fragmentation and submission to occupation demands”, instead of strengthening local councils that reflect the will of the people.
