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Pizza Before We Die: An Eyewitness Account in Gaza
A heart-wrenching personal account of the ongoing devastation in Gaza by an ordinary citizen who bears witness to the undoing of his community and homeland
The human tragedy unfolding in Gaza has been made all the more tragic by the widespread denial and apathy expressed by much of the rest of the world. Here is an urgent first-hand account of life and death in Gaza, written not by a war correspondent, but an ordinary citizen whose life was upended when the genocide began.
In the midst of the chaos, Hassan began posting about his daily experiences on Reddit. Three activists, moved by his words, started collecting his posts without a clear plan—only the conviction that his story needed to be seen and the hope that somehow, it might help raise funds for him. By chance, those posts found their way to award-winning author Yasuko Thanh, who helped Hassan frame them for a book.
Hassan's missives are a vivid, heartbreaking account of war and its toll—on families, on children, on innocent civilians. These are stories of hunger, survival, and death. These are stories that demand to be heard. And yet, stories like these are not being told: Mainstream media has largely remained silent. Foreign journalists are barred from Gaza. Local journalists are being killed. In this vacuum, Hassan's voice breaks through out of the darkness and into the light.
Pizza Before We Die is literary journalism at its rawest and most urgent—clear eyed, unflinching, and deeply humane. Hassan captures the unspeakable horror of the tragedy in Gaza with restraint and precision, never sensationalizing, always bearing witness. It is a work of raw power and emotion and a reminder that in the midst of chaos and tragedy, our shared humanity remains intact.
In addition to editing this book, Yasuko Thanh has written a foreword that provides context for Hassan's powerful story.
A portion of proceeds from the sale of Pizza Before We Die will be donated to Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières.
The human tragedy unfolding in Gaza has been made all the more tragic by the widespread denial and apathy expressed by much of the rest of the world. Here is an urgent first-hand account of life and death in Gaza, written not by a war correspondent, but an ordinary citizen whose life was upended when the genocide began.
In the midst of the chaos, Hassan began posting about his daily experiences on Reddit. Three activists, moved by his words, started collecting his posts without a clear plan—only the conviction that his story needed to be seen and the hope that somehow, it might help raise funds for him. By chance, those posts found their way to award-winning author Yasuko Thanh, who helped Hassan frame them for a book.
Hassan's missives are a vivid, heartbreaking account of war and its toll—on families, on children, on innocent civilians. These are stories of hunger, survival, and death. These are stories that demand to be heard. And yet, stories like these are not being told: Mainstream media has largely remained silent. Foreign journalists are barred from Gaza. Local journalists are being killed. In this vacuum, Hassan's voice breaks through out of the darkness and into the light.
Pizza Before We Die is literary journalism at its rawest and most urgent—clear eyed, unflinching, and deeply humane. Hassan captures the unspeakable horror of the tragedy in Gaza with restraint and precision, never sensationalizing, always bearing witness. It is a work of raw power and emotion and a reminder that in the midst of chaos and tragedy, our shared humanity remains intact.
In addition to editing this book, Yasuko Thanh has written a foreword that provides context for Hassan's powerful story.
A portion of proceeds from the sale of Pizza Before We Die will be donated to Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières.
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
144 pages, Paperback
Published April 7, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Succinct, straightforward, and poignant, this memoir provides a great starting point for readers who want to understand what life is like in Gaza during the genocide.
I admire the author's candid and earnest voice. He includes cold hard facts such as the exorbitant prices for food and resources, such as cooking gas, flour, meat. He talks about paying rent (during a genocide!) for an apartment that provides the bare minimum as a shelter. No electricity. No running water. And certainly no creature comforts.
Ramadan in Gaza is both a logistical and spiritual challenge. You need fuel to cook your food, so you burn anything available. Including plastic. Carcinogens, starvation, and death by Israeli airstrike are an everyday reality. Safety is nonexistent.
I have been following the situation in Gaza since October 7th, and I'll admit, nothing here is new to me. I've never seen so many dead bodies, dying children, beheaded babies all in HD or 4K. I try to help a family in Gaza with my meager donations and every time I see the father's face, it's like he's aged a decade. He mentions the same problems that the author faces when it comes to food, shelter, and safety. It's like this memoir is a universal experience in Gaza.
So if you only read one memoir about this genocide, read this book. If you know someone who wants to learn about the realities of life in Gaza, definitely recommend this memoir to them.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Thank you to Arsenal Pulp Press and Edelweiss+ for this arc.
I admire the author's candid and earnest voice. He includes cold hard facts such as the exorbitant prices for food and resources, such as cooking gas, flour, meat. He talks about paying rent (during a genocide!) for an apartment that provides the bare minimum as a shelter. No electricity. No running water. And certainly no creature comforts.
Ramadan in Gaza is both a logistical and spiritual challenge. You need fuel to cook your food, so you burn anything available. Including plastic. Carcinogens, starvation, and death by Israeli airstrike are an everyday reality. Safety is nonexistent.
I have been following the situation in Gaza since October 7th, and I'll admit, nothing here is new to me. I've never seen so many dead bodies, dying children, beheaded babies all in HD or 4K. I try to help a family in Gaza with my meager donations and every time I see the father's face, it's like he's aged a decade. He mentions the same problems that the author faces when it comes to food, shelter, and safety. It's like this memoir is a universal experience in Gaza.
So if you only read one memoir about this genocide, read this book. If you know someone who wants to learn about the realities of life in Gaza, definitely recommend this memoir to them.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Thank you to Arsenal Pulp Press and Edelweiss+ for this arc.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
we are, all of us, complicit in the world we currently allow to Be.
this should. not. be. we are all accountable for this wretched reality.
this should. not. be. we are all accountable for this wretched reality.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Like Omar El Akkad's One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, Pizza Before We Die is an IMPORTANT read. Author Hassan Kanafani (pseudonym) is an Engineering graduate at Al-Azhar University in Gaza. Not a journalist, he courageously posts to Reddit, when he is able to access the internet, both the micro and macro view of what he has experienced and witnessed over the past 600+ days. It's raw and terrifying and filled with the worst and best of humanity.
"This war has reached a stage where injustice is openly displayed, our sovereignty, it has been stolen, and every human right we once had is being stripped away. They are killing us - not only with bombs and bullets, but with hunger, with imprisonment, and with the relentless, brutal violation of our dignity."
Author Yasuko Thanh and Arsenal Pulp Press, both from BC, have worked with Kanafani to amplify his posts to a wider audience.
"This war has reached a stage where injustice is openly displayed, our sovereignty, it has been stolen, and every human right we once had is being stripped away. They are killing us - not only with bombs and bullets, but with hunger, with imprisonment, and with the relentless, brutal violation of our dignity."
Author Yasuko Thanh and Arsenal Pulp Press, both from BC, have worked with Kanafani to amplify his posts to a wider audience.
Review of advance copy received from Indie Reviewers
Incredible, brave account of life in Gaza during the genocide. Hassan Kanafani is a talented writer with a harrowing, eye-opening story. He captures not only his own perspective of the destruction of his home, but also so many glimpses into others' lives, fears, hopes, pains.
The foreword by Yasuko Thanh is excellent as well, it frames this narrative clearly and empathetically.
I hope one day Hassan Kanafani's story can be published under his real name (instead of this pseudonym) in a free, peaceful Palestine. 🇵🇸
content warnings:
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Grief
The foreword by Yasuko Thanh is excellent as well, it frames this narrative clearly and empathetically.
I hope one day Hassan Kanafani's story can be published under his real name (instead of this pseudonym) in a free, peaceful Palestine. 🇵🇸
content warnings:
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Grief
December 27, 2025
if you read any book on gaza and the genocide, let it be this. there is no excuse to not read this, it is short and concise, written beautifully and not about the history which I know some will use an excuse not to read. it is about right now, reality, the horror and terror, things that you need to know and will not be told. Kanafani is a beautiful writer, but first and foremost a human. I don't believe in god, but I pray for him and the whole of Gaza.
May 12, 2026
Pizza Before We Die is one of the most important books I've read this year and also one of the hardest.
Hassan Kanafani is not a war correspondent. He is an ordinary man whose ordinary life was shattered when the genocide in Gaza began. In the chaos and terror that followed, he did something quietly extraordinary: he started writing about it on Reddit. Three activists, moved by his words, began collecting his posts. Those posts eventually found their way to award-winning author Yasuko Thanh, who helped Hassan shape them into the book you now hold in your hands.
What emerges is literary journalism at its most urgent and most human. Hassan writes about hunger, about survival, about the deaths of people he loved. He writes about children. He writes about dignity and about its systematic, deliberate destruction. He never sensationalises. He never performs grief for an audience. He simply bears witness, with a restraint and precision that makes every page hit harder than outrage ever could.
The world this book describes is one in which foreign journalists are barred from entering and local journalists are being killed. Mainstream media has largely looked away. Into that silence, Hassan's voice breaks through... and it is a voice that refuses to let you look away too.
One line has stayed with me since I finished the book:
"They are killing us — not only with bombs and bullets, but with hunger, with imprisonment, and with the relentless, brutal violation of our dignity."
That sentence is not rhetoric. It is a lived reality, reported from inside it. And it is devastating.
The human tragedy unfolding in Gaza has been compounded by the widespread denial and apathy expressed by much of the rest of the world. This book is an act of resistance against that apathy. It insists quietly, powerfully, without flinching and that these are real people, that these are real lives, and that their stories demand to be heard. A portion of proceeds is donated to Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders, which feels exactly right.
Yasuko Thanh, who edited the book and wrote the foreword, has done something important here. So has everyone who helped Hassan's words travel from Reddit posts to published page. But the heart of this book is Hassan himself... his clarity, his humanity, his refusal to disappear into silence.
Read this book. Then tell someone else to read it.
Content warnings: war, genocide, child death, starvation, grief, loss.
Thank you to Arsenal Pulp Press for providing this book for review consideration via Edelweiss+. All opinions are my own.
Hassan Kanafani is not a war correspondent. He is an ordinary man whose ordinary life was shattered when the genocide in Gaza began. In the chaos and terror that followed, he did something quietly extraordinary: he started writing about it on Reddit. Three activists, moved by his words, began collecting his posts. Those posts eventually found their way to award-winning author Yasuko Thanh, who helped Hassan shape them into the book you now hold in your hands.
What emerges is literary journalism at its most urgent and most human. Hassan writes about hunger, about survival, about the deaths of people he loved. He writes about children. He writes about dignity and about its systematic, deliberate destruction. He never sensationalises. He never performs grief for an audience. He simply bears witness, with a restraint and precision that makes every page hit harder than outrage ever could.
The world this book describes is one in which foreign journalists are barred from entering and local journalists are being killed. Mainstream media has largely looked away. Into that silence, Hassan's voice breaks through... and it is a voice that refuses to let you look away too.
One line has stayed with me since I finished the book:
"They are killing us — not only with bombs and bullets, but with hunger, with imprisonment, and with the relentless, brutal violation of our dignity."
That sentence is not rhetoric. It is a lived reality, reported from inside it. And it is devastating.
The human tragedy unfolding in Gaza has been compounded by the widespread denial and apathy expressed by much of the rest of the world. This book is an act of resistance against that apathy. It insists quietly, powerfully, without flinching and that these are real people, that these are real lives, and that their stories demand to be heard. A portion of proceeds is donated to Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders, which feels exactly right.
Yasuko Thanh, who edited the book and wrote the foreword, has done something important here. So has everyone who helped Hassan's words travel from Reddit posts to published page. But the heart of this book is Hassan himself... his clarity, his humanity, his refusal to disappear into silence.
Read this book. Then tell someone else to read it.
Content warnings: war, genocide, child death, starvation, grief, loss.
Thank you to Arsenal Pulp Press for providing this book for review consideration via Edelweiss+. All opinions are my own.
May 5, 2026
Review of Pizza Before We Die
The least important part of Pizza Before We Die by Hassan Kanafani is my tiny little contribution to it which is a blurb that you'll find just inside the cover. It was my honour to have read the manuscript before publication and provide a few sentences for endorsement. Long story short, this is a necessary read 5/5 stars. Please, request it at your library, borrow it, buy a copy for yourself and friends, and above all read it, and be inspired by it, to action.
Because this is a recount of what the author Hassan Kanafani, a pseudonym for safety purposes, lived through in Gaza from December 2024, fourteen months into the genocide, until July of 2025, 22 months in. Around 8 months in all.
His words are spare, precise, and devastating. They lay out, in heart rending clarity, not only what he sees happening in Gaza himself or heard from his friends, but also incisive commentary on why it's happening and the immense burden of the emotions that come with both witnessing and understanding the genocide of his family, his friends, his people.
That this eyewitness account was published at all is an amazing story by itself and is explained in a foreword by co-writer Yasuko Thanh. I do suggest diving right into Chapter one though and reading the foreword later as Hasan's words will transport you right into Gaza especially when he leads you through the heart wrenching experience of Ramadan and the constant betrayal of the Israeli 'ceasefires' that were, and are, insults to the term. Kanafani's words are vital and necessary as they bring back to our minds the horror of what is being done to the people of Gaza in a way that even the terabytes of recorded video of the atrocities cannot. For example, here is an edited excerpt from March 2025: "There is a massacre in Nuseriat Camp after a strike on a charity kitchen filled with civilians. Everyone inside - hungry and fasting - perishes... on a day that should have been filled with sweets and laughter, there is only blood... Mothers weep beneath collapsed ceilings. Fathers dig with their bare hands trying to find what's left of their families."
This is a work of both grief and principle, It is both a memory and a call to action, the title speaks to holding onto life in the face of death. The hope from two little girls to have some pizza before they die even amidst a cruel and brutal blockade of food, even during flour massacres, speaks to the resilience of the Palestinians in Gaza and reminds those of us outside, with privilege, that death is inevitable for us as well, it reminds us to fight for justice before we die.
Thanks so much to Yasuko Thanh for thinking of me to provide a blurb and to the publisher Arsenal Pulp Press for providing me both a digital and physical copy for the purposes of the blurb and review. without them this necessary, heart breaking book would not have been published. Thanks most of all to Hassan Kanafani for bearing witness so effectively to, not only the devastation of his people in Gaza, but also their resilience and the inherent justice of their cause, the Palestinian cause, which is the cause of all justice loving people in the world. All opinions are my own. In the End, only God knows best.
The least important part of Pizza Before We Die by Hassan Kanafani is my tiny little contribution to it which is a blurb that you'll find just inside the cover. It was my honour to have read the manuscript before publication and provide a few sentences for endorsement. Long story short, this is a necessary read 5/5 stars. Please, request it at your library, borrow it, buy a copy for yourself and friends, and above all read it, and be inspired by it, to action.
Because this is a recount of what the author Hassan Kanafani, a pseudonym for safety purposes, lived through in Gaza from December 2024, fourteen months into the genocide, until July of 2025, 22 months in. Around 8 months in all.
His words are spare, precise, and devastating. They lay out, in heart rending clarity, not only what he sees happening in Gaza himself or heard from his friends, but also incisive commentary on why it's happening and the immense burden of the emotions that come with both witnessing and understanding the genocide of his family, his friends, his people.
That this eyewitness account was published at all is an amazing story by itself and is explained in a foreword by co-writer Yasuko Thanh. I do suggest diving right into Chapter one though and reading the foreword later as Hasan's words will transport you right into Gaza especially when he leads you through the heart wrenching experience of Ramadan and the constant betrayal of the Israeli 'ceasefires' that were, and are, insults to the term. Kanafani's words are vital and necessary as they bring back to our minds the horror of what is being done to the people of Gaza in a way that even the terabytes of recorded video of the atrocities cannot. For example, here is an edited excerpt from March 2025: "There is a massacre in Nuseriat Camp after a strike on a charity kitchen filled with civilians. Everyone inside - hungry and fasting - perishes... on a day that should have been filled with sweets and laughter, there is only blood... Mothers weep beneath collapsed ceilings. Fathers dig with their bare hands trying to find what's left of their families."
This is a work of both grief and principle, It is both a memory and a call to action, the title speaks to holding onto life in the face of death. The hope from two little girls to have some pizza before they die even amidst a cruel and brutal blockade of food, even during flour massacres, speaks to the resilience of the Palestinians in Gaza and reminds those of us outside, with privilege, that death is inevitable for us as well, it reminds us to fight for justice before we die.
Thanks so much to Yasuko Thanh for thinking of me to provide a blurb and to the publisher Arsenal Pulp Press for providing me both a digital and physical copy for the purposes of the blurb and review. without them this necessary, heart breaking book would not have been published. Thanks most of all to Hassan Kanafani for bearing witness so effectively to, not only the devastation of his people in Gaza, but also their resilience and the inherent justice of their cause, the Palestinian cause, which is the cause of all justice loving people in the world. All opinions are my own. In the End, only God knows best.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Pizza Before We Die – For What?
How did the book make me feel/think?
Not a single word of this is political. This is an attempt to find humanity in the sickness of our species.
What is the killing for?
What is the end goal of our endless conflicts? Ending us?
Our leaders position themselves as the ones who carry difficult decisions, but I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t think anyone wants to kill me. We all want the same things: love, warmth, fleeting moments of happiness, and full bellies.
Instead, we are handed destruction—where a humane ending becomes a bomb strike instead of freezing or starvation.
My soul feels torn in two. A man in Gaza must prove he is worthy of pity to receive aid for his family. When I turned 65, I had to prove I wasn’t trying to outlive my years to receive a few hundred dollars—to prove I was worthy of dignity.
These are not the same. Not even close. But something in that proving feels broken.
Each day, I wake up strange. I wake up scared. I wonder if anything will change. A friend once said, “At least they are not bombing Burnaby Street.” We are far removed from the horror. Our lives are blessed. They are coming to clean my dryer vents this week.
I walk past a playground in Vancouver. Empty ball diamonds. Children inside, on their phones.
Pause.
Now imagine children playing in fresh bomb craters.
I have no answers. Only a deep sadness and a need to bear witness—to look, even when it would be easier not to.
It’s 2026, and we are still killing each other.
For what?
Thank you to the author for the bravery of these words—offering light from within one of humanity’s darkest failures.
There is no place for silence.
These words are not political.
They are human.
WRITTEN 19 March 2026
5 stars = exceptional, transformative, enduring.
How did the book make me feel/think?
Not a single word of this is political. This is an attempt to find humanity in the sickness of our species.
What is the killing for?
What is the end goal of our endless conflicts? Ending us?
Our leaders position themselves as the ones who carry difficult decisions, but I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t think anyone wants to kill me. We all want the same things: love, warmth, fleeting moments of happiness, and full bellies.
Instead, we are handed destruction—where a humane ending becomes a bomb strike instead of freezing or starvation.
My soul feels torn in two. A man in Gaza must prove he is worthy of pity to receive aid for his family. When I turned 65, I had to prove I wasn’t trying to outlive my years to receive a few hundred dollars—to prove I was worthy of dignity.
These are not the same. Not even close. But something in that proving feels broken.
Each day, I wake up strange. I wake up scared. I wonder if anything will change. A friend once said, “At least they are not bombing Burnaby Street.” We are far removed from the horror. Our lives are blessed. They are coming to clean my dryer vents this week.
I walk past a playground in Vancouver. Empty ball diamonds. Children inside, on their phones.
Pause.
Now imagine children playing in fresh bomb craters.
I have no answers. Only a deep sadness and a need to bear witness—to look, even when it would be easier not to.
It’s 2026, and we are still killing each other.
For what?
Thank you to the author for the bravery of these words—offering light from within one of humanity’s darkest failures.
There is no place for silence.
These words are not political.
They are human.
WRITTEN 19 March 2026
5 stars = exceptional, transformative, enduring.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
"Pizza Before We Die" is a compilation of Hassan Kanafani's writings on the daily struggles a Palestinian has to endure as Isnotreal continues its genocidal tactics for 78 years and counting. As an aside: The author's name has been changed to preserve anonymity lest he be targeted for his truthful writing; a testament to Isnotreal's targeted killing of reporters, not to mention civilians.
I don't think I need to tell you how affecting the writing is (enough to catapult this into a 5-star read), nor is it my place to wax poetics about the bravery of the Palestinians. I'll let the excerpts from the book speak for themselves.
I do want to highlight this: If you think the liberation of Palestine does not concern you, think again. Countless authors and writers have repeated the claims that Palestine is an open-air laboratory where Isnotreal, with the complicity of MANY governments (Western & non-Western, first-world and third-world countries), practices and refines its genocidal tactics. They even spread their tactics to subdue and repress other communities and countries (see: Congo, the Uyghur, Myanmar, the US). When the governments see that the majority continues to be calm & complacent with the status quo, thinking "oh, that won't happen to us, *we're* legal residents, we didn't do anything wrong, we have nothing to worry about", they continue to adjust their strategies and refine them further.
Guess what happens when their laboratory experiment is ready to be expanded to the outside world?
If you think the liberation of all of the repressed communities has nothing to do with you--think again.
Thank you to the publisher for the e-ARC copy in exchange for an honest review! The book will be released on 7 April 2026, and a portion of the proceeds will be going to Doctors Without Borders Canada.
I don't think I need to tell you how affecting the writing is (enough to catapult this into a 5-star read), nor is it my place to wax poetics about the bravery of the Palestinians. I'll let the excerpts from the book speak for themselves.
I do want to highlight this: If you think the liberation of Palestine does not concern you, think again. Countless authors and writers have repeated the claims that Palestine is an open-air laboratory where Isnotreal, with the complicity of MANY governments (Western & non-Western, first-world and third-world countries), practices and refines its genocidal tactics. They even spread their tactics to subdue and repress other communities and countries (see: Congo, the Uyghur, Myanmar, the US). When the governments see that the majority continues to be calm & complacent with the status quo, thinking "oh, that won't happen to us, *we're* legal residents, we didn't do anything wrong, we have nothing to worry about", they continue to adjust their strategies and refine them further.
Guess what happens when their laboratory experiment is ready to be expanded to the outside world?
If you think the liberation of all of the repressed communities has nothing to do with you--think again.
Thank you to the publisher for the e-ARC copy in exchange for an honest review! The book will be released on 7 April 2026, and a portion of the proceeds will be going to Doctors Without Borders Canada.
Review of advance copy
The true terror in existence is not the fear of death, but the fear of life. It is the fear of waking up every day to face the same struggles, the same disappointments, the same pain. It is the fear that nothing will ever change and that we are trapped in a cycle of inevitable suffering. Within the fear arises a desire, a longing for something, anything, to break the monotony and give meaning to endless repetition of days.
“Instead of dressing him in Eid clothes, we dressed him in a shroud”
“Instead of dressing him in Eid clothes, we dressed him in a shroud”
Review of advance copy received from Publishers Weekly
A powerful, remarkably brave account of life in Gaza over the past two years. These are real lived experiences in Gaza that the Israeli government is fighting to keep us from seeing: children dying from hunger, entire families living in a single small tent, burning scraps of clothing to cook what meager food can be found, constant fear. I'm begging you to read this book. Kanafani risked everything to write it.
May 3, 2026
"What kind of war was this to teach us to grow apathetic? To rest our heads on pillows stuffed with indifference? What kind of life forces a man to choose between burying his dead and securing a bag if flour?"
May 16, 2026
The author describes the atrocities and war crimes he sees every day in the apartheid state of Gaza, perpetrated by the state of Israel, the Israeli “Defense” forces, and the settlers, against the Palestinian people. It’s heart wrenching. A difficult read.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Such an important book.
March 29, 2026
A glaringly honest take on the catastrophic conditions of Gaza and the experience of starvation, survival, grief, and genocide.
April 1, 2026
4.5 stars
April 24, 2026
So aggravating and maddening to witness Hassan’s words become more poetic and haunting as the devastation and destruction and starvation surrounding him prolongs and worsens.
Read
April 30, 2026Devastating. Heartbreaking.
Highly recommended read.
Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital review copy.
Highly recommended read.
Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital review copy.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews