A Historian in Gaza

About the Book AN INTIMATE AND HARROWING EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT BY HISTORIAN JEAN-PIERRE FILIU OF GAZA DURING ISRAEL'S DEVASTATING ALL-OUT WAR IN DECEMBER 2024, BLENDING RIGOROUS REPORTAGE WITH A PROFOUND NARRATIVE OF HUMAN SUFFERING AND RESILIENCE. Jean-Pierre Filiu, acclaimed historian of Gaza, is intimately familiar with the land's people and places; he speaks the local dialect. But nothing prepared him for what he encountered there in December 2024. This is his unforgettable, unbearably intimate account of one month in a place shattered by Israel's all-out war. When the historian returned to Gaza, he arrived under circumstances unimaginably different from his many past visits since 1980: only a limited number of convoys were allowed into the Strip, and he was one of the few humanitarians able to enter, this time by night. He remained inside for 33 days, and emerged determined to bear witness to the devastation-to the Gazans fighting simply to live, every single day. Filiu's haunting portrait of a land betrayed is a grim work of war reportage, documented with the acuity of a historian; and a lyrical narrative of human suffering, and human dignity. About the Author Jean-Pierre Filiu is Professor of Middle East Studies at Sciences Po, and former visiting professor at Columbia and Georgetown Universities. His books include The Middle East: A Political History and Guardian Book of the Year Gaza: A History (also published by Hurst), which won Middle East Monitor's Palestine Book Award. Read more