Gawad Akkad

He went to get us flour. He came back covered in empty flour bags. Alaa was a son, a brother, a husband and a father. He was an artist, in more ways than one: his last artworks were repairing his demolished apartment, and ours. Alaa could not stand waking up every day to the cries of his children asking for food, or simply bread. He went to get us flour. But the Israeli forces never let him come back. They shot him as he was returning home, twice in his head and back.

In recent months, several Western governments have declared symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state. But these gestures come amid ongoing siege, displacement, and military occupation, raising the question: what exactly is being recognized, and at what cost? Palestine today lacks sovereignty. It has no control over its borders, airspace, or natural resources.

Content warning: mentions of suicide and self-harm. On Jan. 29, 2024, emergency R.N. Lana Abugharbieh volunteered on a medical mission with an American-based Medical NGO in Rafah, Gaza. She was a part of the first group of medical mission volunteers with this NGO since the genocide began. Just before they arrived in Cairo, the mission team learned that Nasser Hospital medical center, where they were originally planned to be stationed, was under siege.