Photo: Supplied: Pan Macmillan
When the bombs started hitting, Palestinians started the familiar process of stocking up, opening windows, getting their grab bag of important things together. But this was the day after October 7 2023. And it was not going to be like it was in the past. Plestia Alaqad's life as a Palestinian living in Gaza was not going to be the same. She'd gone to University, trained and worked as a journalist.
Then came Israel's reaction to the horrific attack by Hamas which left more than 1100 of its citizens dead and 200 taken captive. In addition to reporting, Plestia kept a diary - just like she'd done as kid. It documents what happened in those first 45 days of the conflict in Gaza, until she and her family were lucky enough to be able to flee, first to Egypt, then Australia. She turned her diary into a book, called The Eyes of Gaza: A Diary of Resilience. She joins Kathryn from Lebanon, where she's completing her master's degree in media studies at the American University of Beirut.
