London photography exhibition documents daily life in wartorn Gaza

For the next few weeks, a rare collection of photographs from the Gaza Strip is on display at a London gallery, offering an intimate look at life amid conflict through the eyes of 11 Palestinian photographers.

Titled “Against Erasure - Photographs from Gaza,” the exhibition brings together the works of Mahmoud Abu Hamda, Belal Alhams, Jehad Alshrafi, Hammam Younis Alzyatuniya, Anas Ayyad, Majdi Fathi Suleiman Qraiqea, Belal Khaled, Ahmed Salama, Fatima Alzahra Shbair, Ali Jadallah and Abdul Rahman Zaqout.

The exhibition is on view at P21 Gallery in Euston, London, until Oct. 10.

The artists were awarded the Photo Humanity Grant in May 2024, providing funds and a platform to document and share their work in Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas militants, which has killed at least 65,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023.

The photographs tell diverse stories from Gaza, spanning hunger, media freedom and the experience of pregnancy during wartime.

One striking photograph, dated June 14, 2024, shows Palestinian journalist Mariam Abu Daqqa, one of the few remaining female war correspondents in Gaza before she was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Aug. 25. Months earlier, Jehad Alshrafi had photographed Abu Daqqa for the project, capturing a candid portrait of the journalist and mother in front of a building reduced to rubble by Israeli airstrikes. The image was later recognized through the Gaza Photo Humanity Grant.

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 248 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. Israel has repeatedly denied targeting journalists.

“That's a story that we want to keep repeating: Even journalists are not safe from Israeli aggression,” said Razan AlSarraf, one of the exhibition's curators, in an interview with Al-Monitor.

Another photograph by Mahmoud Abu Hamda, a photographer and filmmaker based in Gaza City, focuses on the displacement of Palestinians from northern Gaza to central and southern areas such as al-Nuseirat camp, Khan Younis and Rafah. He documented the daily lives of the displaced, while navigating the dangers of working in a war zone.

“My humanitarian message springs from my deep empathy for people. I am not a stranger to their suffering; I live it just as they do,” Hamda told Al-Monitor. “When I photographed the hungry, I too was hungry like them, and when I documented the displaced, I was displaced like them, carrying the same exhaustion and pain.”

He said his photographs serve as testimonies to the world that Palestinians are human beings who endure both pain and hope.

Amid the brutality of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, Abdul Rahman Zaqout documents how food and water have been weaponized against civilians, as alleged by the UN and nongovernmental organizations, but denied by Israel. He believes photography is the "strongest weapon in this war."

“For me, the exhibition is a space to carry the stories of the people of Gaza in the language of images — an attempt to convey their voices and struggles to the world and to affirm that humanity is always capable of breaking the silence,” Zaqout told Al-Monitor.

Since 2009, the artist has documented daily life in the enclave for local and international outlets. His work has been widely exhibited and won awards including the International Committee of the Red Cross Photography Prize (2018), Press House Award (2019) and the American Bowie Award (2023).