Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza has plunged more than two million Palestinians into a ceaseless cycle of violence and deprivation. Despite the outrage that aggression has fanned, two opposing tropes about those who inhabit the Strip endure. For the minority backing Israel’s actions, the Palestinians of Gaza are often seen as little more than terrorists. For many on the other side, they are perpetual victims, powerless and tragic. Each characterization dehumanizes Gaza’s people.

In this book, Mohammed Omer Almoghayer, born and raised in southern Gaza, presents a necessary corrective. What the news reports have rarely shown are the ways in which, prior to Israel’s onslaught, the people of Gaza rose above their hardship to enjoy the simple pleasures of human existence. While in no way diminishing the horrors hurled at the Strip since October 7, or the prior suffering of those forced to live in what was effectively an open prison, Omer Almoghayer here tells that story.

On the Pleasures of Living in Gaza takes the reader on a tour of a most misunderstood and hidden territory, allowing us to discover the community spirit, the enduring family ties, the festivals and pastimes, and the creativity and resourcefulness of people, who, in lives now tragically lost, refused to surrender to hopelessness, snatching moments of joy in the most difficult of circumstances. More than ever, it is vital that we recognize the humanity of people referred to by Israel’s defense minister as “animals,” and by news organizations around the world by as bald numbers of nameless dead. With the sensitivity and insight available to a native Gazan, Mohammed Omer’s magnificent book parts the smoke and dust to show us the richness of a way of life Israel has now destroyed.