‘North Gaza Massacres’: Telling the stories of the everyday heroes of Jabalia refugee camp
Palestinians search for survivors following an Israeli airstrike in the Jabalia refugee camp north of Gaza City, 31 October 2023
Hamza Abu Al-Tarabeesh writes in Mondoweiss on 5 October 2025:
Every person on this earth has a special mission. The journey begins with searching for an answer to the question of knowing the secret of their existence. Some succeed in discovering this early, others late, and many never at all.
I believe I have recently found mine. I didn’t know it would weigh so heavily on my heart and mind, but for over a year now, I have carried it out—because it is worth it.
Most of my neighbors, friends, and family with whom I share memories and life experiences, have fallen victim to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. All that remains of them are brief snapshots preserved in my memory. In my neighborhood of Jabalia Camp in northern Gaza, I am the only writer, and my mission is to bring life to those memories and to honor the people we lost.
Beyond each statistic about the victims, there was a person with a name, a story, and aspirations for a brighter future. In their honor, I wrote the book, North Gaza Massacres: Jabalia Camp, which was published last August. It is a book of remembrance and resistance.
The Largest Massacre
On October 31, 2023, Israel dropped nearly 12 tons of explosives on Al-Sanayda, a neighborhood no bigger than a football field. The attack killed about 600 Palestinians from 40 families, the largest massacre in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
I lived there. My earliest memories were shaped on Al-Huaja Street and its surrounding blocks. I memorized the colors of doors, the designs of windows, and even the distinct smell of each family’s home. Every alley held a story. These were the people who raised me and shaped who I am today.
Among them were farmers, doctors, engineers, bakers, teachers, taxi drivers, fishermen, nurses, students, and children with big dreams. They were not just numbers. But in a single day, dozens of families were wiped out.
The next day, November 1, 2023, Israel struck again in Block 7. This time 150 people were killed, including 65 members of one family—the Salim family. A year later, in October 2024, the Israeli army destroyed the rest of the neighborhood, killing those who had survived the first massacre. My entire community was wiped out in two attacks within a single year.
Memory is Resistance
Although the book is primarily human in tone, one of the core reasons I adopted this project is my engagement in a real struggle against Israel within the broader battle over narrative that began the moment Israel began to colonize Palestinian land.