A Historian in Gaza

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 thirty-three 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 available from Oxford University Press), which won Middle East Monitor's Palestine Book Award.

Product details

• Authors: Filiu Jean-Pierre
• Assisted by: Schoch Cynthia (Translation), Selous Trista (Translation)
• Publisher: Hurst Publishers
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 27.11.2025
• EAN: 9781805265252
• ISBN: 978-1-80526-525-2
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Gaza, Geopolitics, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Middle Eastern, Warfare & defence, Palestine, Warfare and defence