Gaza Is Still Here
Despite a “ceasefire,” Israel’s killing has not ended. Neither has the determination of the Palestinian people to survive.
Gaza has been suspended in a bloody limbo for months. The so-called ceasefire with Israel has not brought peace. The bombings and demolitions persist, and Israel’s expanding occupation continues unabated. Since October 10, 2025, when the ceasefire was declared, more than 440 people have been killed and more than 2,500 buildings destroyed. Israel has only allowed a fraction of the essential equipment needed for cooking, heating, and construction to enter the Strip. Gaza is now buried beneath 680 million tons of rubble. Ninety percent of the population has been displaced, many of them several times. Hundreds of thousands live in threadbare tents.
The “ceasefire” is meant to breed apathy among us; the spectacle of modern genocidal warfare has been replaced by the slow bureaucratic proceedings of ethnic cleansing. Washington’s hollow promises to bring “technocratic governance” to Gaza mask a colonial project imposed on a people with no say: a people left to die, forgotten by the world.
This, then, is where we return. In early February, The Nation gave over its website for a day to writers from Gaza. We did this to make it clear that we will remain focused on Gaza and the Palestinian people. No diplomatic proceedings or political distortions will subdue our demand for their right to self-determination—or their right to speak for themselves.
The pieces in this series are an affirmation of that right: a record of Gaza’s refusal, in the face of the world’s neglect, to be exterminated.
—Rayan El Amine, Lizzy Ratner, and Jack Mirkinson
A Day for Gaza
Rayan El Amine, Jack Mirkinson, Lizzy Ratner
Today, The Nation is turning over its website exclusively to stories from Gaza and its people. This is why.
A Ceasefire in Name Only
Mohammed Mhawish
The language of ceasefire has been repurposed in Gaza: It no longer describes a pause in violence but rather a mechanism for managing it.
The Street That Refuses to Die
Ali Skaik
What I saw walking one block in Gaza.
A Catalog of Gaza’s Loss
Deema Hattab
Recording what has been erased—and making sense of what remains.
“We Have Covered Events No Human Can Bear”
Ola Al Asi
Journalists in Gaza have bartered their lives to tell a truth that much of the world still doesn’t want to hear.
What Edward Said Teaches Us About Gaza
Alaa Alqaisi
On Palestine and the geography of vanishing.
My Sister’s Death Still Echoes Inside Me
Asmaa Dwaima
Rewaa was killed by an Israeli bomb. Her absence has broken me in ways I still cannot describe.
What Gaza’s Photographers Have Seen
Huda Skaik
These pictures are records of a genocidal war, but they are something more, too—they are fragments of Gaza itself.
At the Doorstep of Tomorrow
Engy Abdelal
Faced with endlessly narrowing possibilities, I return to my diary in an attempt to dream, to imagine a future.
How to Survive in a House Without Walls
Rasha Abou Jalal
After their home was obliterated, Rasha Abou Jalal and her family remain determined to build a new one, even if it must be built out of nothing.
What Happens to the Educators After the Schools Have Been Destroyed?
Ismail Nofal
Hamada Abu Layla spent 22 years gathering three university degrees. Now they mock him from a garbage dump.
Become a Sustaining Donor This September
Between the reemergence of right-wing red-baiting and Donald Trump’s use of the chilling National Security Presidential Memorandum–7 to criminalize left political organizing, we’re seeing McCarthyism reborn before our eyes.
This assault on democracy cannot be ignored or wished away. Resisting it requires bravery in the face of threats and repression, a steadfast commitment to the truth, and the unwavering belief that we can—and will—overcome this darkness.
We must have an independent media that sets the record straight, unearths corruption and abuses of power, and advances a politics of justice and dignity for all if we’re to win this fight.
That’s why I’m writing to you today. This September, The Nation needs to add 100 monthly donors to sustain our progressive journalism. Your contribution makes the next investigative report, the next truth-speaking column, and the next pathbreaking essay all possible.
I hope you’ll support our work with a recurring donation today. If you donate $10 or more a month, we’ll send you a brand new “Hands Off the Free Press!” sticker to recognise your commitment to our cause. Please, donate today.
Onward,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation
