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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 - 30 of 46 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.
July 26, 2026
A blunt account of the ongoing devastation in Gaza by an ordinary citizen who bears witness to the human tragedy, made all the more tragic by the authors acknowledgment of the widespread denial and apathy expressed by the majority of the world.
Earlier this year, I read The Eyes of Gaza and it quickly became a favourite book which feels weird to say as it absolutely devastated me and was so hard to read, but NECESSARY.
This account is straightforward and unembellished. There is no need for dramatic language when the reality is already so crazy and unimaginable.
The title itself captures the oscillation between utter deprivation and disaster and that persistent hope and desire that defines humanity.
The foreword gives the necessary context to how this short book came to be - a collection of writing from someone living day to day watching as his community and home died.
Whilst not as educational or poetic as The Eyes of Gaza, this is a demonstration of humanity’s best and worst that I urge you to bear witness to and acknowledge.
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Earlier this year, I read The Eyes of Gaza and it quickly became a favourite book which feels weird to say as it absolutely devastated me and was so hard to read, but NECESSARY.
This account is straightforward and unembellished. There is no need for dramatic language when the reality is already so crazy and unimaginable.
The title itself captures the oscillation between utter deprivation and disaster and that persistent hope and desire that defines humanity.
The foreword gives the necessary context to how this short book came to be - a collection of writing from someone living day to day watching as his community and home died.
Whilst not as educational or poetic as The Eyes of Gaza, this is a demonstration of humanity’s best and worst that I urge you to bear witness to and acknowledge.
Bookstagram
Tiktok
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.
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.
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
May 23, 2026
The first part of this book is sad, but the second part - after Israel broke the January 2025 ceasefire and resumed its genocide - is unbearable. The story of a man entering a taxi and finding a father transporting a dead child in a shroud, as the rest of his children remain buried under the rubble from an attack. The orgies of blood that await aid seekers. And this, which my brain can’t even begin to fathom or process:
A little boy—not yet four—with a little body shrunken by hunger is frail and hollow eyed. He has no one left. His mother has been killed by the missiles. He wanders alone to the cemetery and finds her grave. And with his tiny hands, he begins to dig.
"Wake up, Mama," he whispers. "I'm hungry. Cook for me like you used to."
May the monsters who committed these atrocities never know a moment's peace for the rest of their miserable lives. And damn this world for letting this happen, when it wasn’t actively enabling it and crushing anyone who dares stand up against barbarism.
To anyone who reads this book, I would also recommend A Year on the Abyss of Genocide, by Mahmoud Al-Shaer.
A little boy—not yet four—with a little body shrunken by hunger is frail and hollow eyed. He has no one left. His mother has been killed by the missiles. He wanders alone to the cemetery and finds her grave. And with his tiny hands, he begins to dig.
"Wake up, Mama," he whispers. "I'm hungry. Cook for me like you used to."
May the monsters who committed these atrocities never know a moment's peace for the rest of their miserable lives. And damn this world for letting this happen, when it wasn’t actively enabling it and crushing anyone who dares stand up against barbarism.
To anyone who reads this book, I would also recommend A Year on the Abyss of Genocide, by Mahmoud Al-Shaer.
May 29, 2026
a must read and must buy for everyone (portion of proceeds from the sale of this book goes to médecins san frontières)
August 21, 2026
4/5
This book is short and poignant. It shows how people struggle daily with the loss of their dignity and the confusion of Israeli logic. It's raw and painful and a sharp reminder that people are suffering and very little is being done.
The price of food, the war crimes, the small bits of humanity. It's a short book, read it just to hear a person's story and listen to the reality they went through and remember it's still happening right now.
I found this at my local library. Check if your local library has a copy!
This book is short and poignant. It shows how people struggle daily with the loss of their dignity and the confusion of Israeli logic. It's raw and painful and a sharp reminder that people are suffering and very little is being done.
The price of food, the war crimes, the small bits of humanity. It's a short book, read it just to hear a person's story and listen to the reality they went through and remember it's still happening right now.
I found this at my local library. Check if your local library has a copy!
May 17, 2026
Incredibly striking and harrowing first-person account of the genocide in Gaza. The emphasis on hunger and dignity is something overlooked, but seems so central to life in Palestine according to the author. And it’s so visceral, so real, so palpable. Genocide is not just about the staggering numbers of the dead. Genocide is about stripping people of their humanity.
And the book is so forceful because it invites you to imagine this, what it’s like to have everything taken from you, and to make you feel less than human. “Put yourself in our place. I can imagine it, because I lived it.” “Imagine, imagine, imagine the many things that occur to you and never occur to you. Here is Gaza.”
Yet, the horrors are so unthinkable, the author himself can’t wrap his head around it. “Who can borrow my head, the one that has seen with its own eyes the horrors of the last day? Who can hear what I have heard—the sound of the trumpet, not once, but a thousand times over? … who can borrow my heart, filled with the weight of the rubble and grief?“
We must never abandon the people of Gaza. We must always remember, and bear witness. When we eat, when it rains and we have shelter, or we can run to shelter. When it’s cold, when our children are hungry, when we have the privilege of privacy. When we buy an onion.
Most of us will never know what it’s like to be in Gaza, to be a Palestinian. But what we can do is listen, to not steel our hearts against the unspeakable, and to keep our eyes on Palestine and its people.
And the book is so forceful because it invites you to imagine this, what it’s like to have everything taken from you, and to make you feel less than human. “Put yourself in our place. I can imagine it, because I lived it.” “Imagine, imagine, imagine the many things that occur to you and never occur to you. Here is Gaza.”
Yet, the horrors are so unthinkable, the author himself can’t wrap his head around it. “Who can borrow my head, the one that has seen with its own eyes the horrors of the last day? Who can hear what I have heard—the sound of the trumpet, not once, but a thousand times over? … who can borrow my heart, filled with the weight of the rubble and grief?“
We must never abandon the people of Gaza. We must always remember, and bear witness. When we eat, when it rains and we have shelter, or we can run to shelter. When it’s cold, when our children are hungry, when we have the privilege of privacy. When we buy an onion.
Most of us will never know what it’s like to be in Gaza, to be a Palestinian. But what we can do is listen, to not steel our hearts against the unspeakable, and to keep our eyes on Palestine and its people.
July 1, 2026
"As you read these lines, don't get lost in the glow of the words. Don't admire the flow of punctuation or the polish of a well-turned phrase. That's not the point.
This was written by a man scorched by the fire of war, worn down by trial after trial. These sentences aren't crafted for beauty-- they're pulled from exhaustion, from pain, from the weight of days that never seem to end.
What's happening in Gaza is not just a genocide. It is a humanitarian tragedy beyond the grips of language. It drains words of their meaning. It swallows metaphors whole. There is no description sharp enough, no sentence wide enough, to hold what we are living through."
these words may not have been crafted for beauty but they still are beautifully crafted for a situation that is so unbelievably ugly.
July 4, 2026
Reading this book is important, it is not comfortable and throughout I did cry and feel ill from the emotions that came when reading the stories of the violence that has met the Palestinian people since October 7th 2023.
This book tells us about the reality of daily life for most people in Gaza. It tells of the hardship that they have unjustly and illegally gone through. The people of Gaza need to be heard, they need to be remembered, not only in the abstract, through a published number of martyrs, but also in a personal way like this.
Though there are thousands of reasons, this book is another one that reminds us that we still need to show solidarity, why we must continue to show up at the rallies for Gaza and against complaisant governments, amplify the voices of Palestinians, and try our best to create a world where supranational organizations can actually make a difference in these situations.
I recommend this book to anyone
(Not small children)
This book tells us about the reality of daily life for most people in Gaza. It tells of the hardship that they have unjustly and illegally gone through. The people of Gaza need to be heard, they need to be remembered, not only in the abstract, through a published number of martyrs, but also in a personal way like this.
Though there are thousands of reasons, this book is another one that reminds us that we still need to show solidarity, why we must continue to show up at the rallies for Gaza and against complaisant governments, amplify the voices of Palestinians, and try our best to create a world where supranational organizations can actually make a difference in these situations.
I recommend this book to anyone
(Not small children)
July 1, 2026
Wars are not made of headlines but of human suffering.
July 30, 2026
This is such an important book to read, especially with how this world turns a blind eye to Palestine’s suffering, and how Western media does not portray the truth of the extensive war crimes being committed against Palestinian’s. It’s not a story- it is REAL life in real time today.
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.
June 8, 2026
This book is written by a Canadian author who found a series of Reddit posts by Hassan Kanafani who is in Gaza today and worked with Arsenal Pulp Press to shape the posts into a book. The fact this book exists feels like a miracle. Foreign media has been banned from Gaza since 2023, 115 media centres destroyed, 270 (!) journalists killed.
From the Introduction: “Gaza has sustained the heaviest aerial bombardment in history: one hundred thousand tons of explosives, equivalent to six Hiroshimas, dropped on an area eighty-five times smaller than Vancouver Island.” What’s the scale of the human devastation? From the Introduction: “The Lancet estimated Gaza’s death toll at 186,000” but “680,000 is the number Ralph Nader entered into the US Congressional Record, based on studies by doctors and epidemiologists that take into account deaths from disease, trauma, lack of clean water, lack of medicine, lack of food, and lack of shelter.” What’s the real number? We don’t know. We can’t! Nobody’s allowed to count. But those lacks are what you feel while reading. From Page 1 written on December, 2024: “I sit in the modest tent I share with my family, in one of Gaza’s crowded camps in the desert near the beach. The hanging piece of fabric separating me from my nearest neighbours barely conceals the view, let alone sound. Everyone can hear everyone else; there is no privacy at all. My neighbours stare at their empty table, which used to hold simple meals for their children. But today, there is no bread. The empty flour shelf stands as a silent witness to their long days of struggle.” From Page 43 from January 2025: “The first thing the survivors will notice is the vastness of their field of vision. Nothing obstructs the view—no houses, no trees. Just destruction, destruction, destruction. Massive expanses of rubble in every corner: thousands of tons of stones, shattered windows, wooden doors, glass, rebar, wallpaper, doorsteps, kitchen counter, refrigerators, washing machines, gas ovens, kitchen cabinets, utensils, bathroom fixtures, books, pens, clothes, children’s toys, all fused together in a surreal collage of devastation never before witnessed.”
The book paints portraits like this—images you can’t shake—then zooms down to the people living in Gaza and their thoughts and worries and pains. From Page 45: “… individuals will become disabled, not war heroes in society’s eyes. A man will think twice before marrying his daughter to a young man who has lost his leg in the war. A young woman will hesitate a thousand times before exchanging glances with a man without arms. Most of these lives will fade away under the weight of pity, and people will almost forget why they were injured in the first place.” Hassan writes about devastating life in Gaza right now while showcasing little moments of bizarre humanity—like a woman searching for her home after an explosion or a man getting picked up by a taxi driver who had his own dead child wrapped in bandages in the back seat. The title of the book comes from the author overhearing two little girls talking about wanting to eat pizza before they die.
I was left thinking about how lucky we are and how horrifying the state of life is around the world for so many today. A book to bear witness.
From the Introduction: “Gaza has sustained the heaviest aerial bombardment in history: one hundred thousand tons of explosives, equivalent to six Hiroshimas, dropped on an area eighty-five times smaller than Vancouver Island.” What’s the scale of the human devastation? From the Introduction: “The Lancet estimated Gaza’s death toll at 186,000” but “680,000 is the number Ralph Nader entered into the US Congressional Record, based on studies by doctors and epidemiologists that take into account deaths from disease, trauma, lack of clean water, lack of medicine, lack of food, and lack of shelter.” What’s the real number? We don’t know. We can’t! Nobody’s allowed to count. But those lacks are what you feel while reading. From Page 1 written on December, 2024: “I sit in the modest tent I share with my family, in one of Gaza’s crowded camps in the desert near the beach. The hanging piece of fabric separating me from my nearest neighbours barely conceals the view, let alone sound. Everyone can hear everyone else; there is no privacy at all. My neighbours stare at their empty table, which used to hold simple meals for their children. But today, there is no bread. The empty flour shelf stands as a silent witness to their long days of struggle.” From Page 43 from January 2025: “The first thing the survivors will notice is the vastness of their field of vision. Nothing obstructs the view—no houses, no trees. Just destruction, destruction, destruction. Massive expanses of rubble in every corner: thousands of tons of stones, shattered windows, wooden doors, glass, rebar, wallpaper, doorsteps, kitchen counter, refrigerators, washing machines, gas ovens, kitchen cabinets, utensils, bathroom fixtures, books, pens, clothes, children’s toys, all fused together in a surreal collage of devastation never before witnessed.”
The book paints portraits like this—images you can’t shake—then zooms down to the people living in Gaza and their thoughts and worries and pains. From Page 45: “… individuals will become disabled, not war heroes in society’s eyes. A man will think twice before marrying his daughter to a young man who has lost his leg in the war. A young woman will hesitate a thousand times before exchanging glances with a man without arms. Most of these lives will fade away under the weight of pity, and people will almost forget why they were injured in the first place.” Hassan writes about devastating life in Gaza right now while showcasing little moments of bizarre humanity—like a woman searching for her home after an explosion or a man getting picked up by a taxi driver who had his own dead child wrapped in bandages in the back seat. The title of the book comes from the author overhearing two little girls talking about wanting to eat pizza before they die.
I was left thinking about how lucky we are and how horrifying the state of life is around the world for so many today. A book to bear witness.
May 30, 2026
What happened on October 7, 2023 was a tragedy and required a response; I hold no brief for Hamas, it is guilty of its share of the continuing escalating friction between Palestine and Israel. However, neither should we forget the indignities that the Palestinians have endured during the 75-year occupation by Israel. That is a discussion for another day. But the response that Israel visited on Gaza was nothing less than genocide. This book from a Gaza resident clearly shows us this.
Hasan Kanafani (pseudonym) was a recent graduate from the Faculty of Engineering at Al-Azhar University in Gaza when the genocide began. He posted on Reddit when he could, and three followers began assembling his posts, which made its way to Canadian author Yasuko Thanh. She edited and found a publisher for this literary journalism. Foreign journalists were barred from entering Gaza, and local journalists were being killed. The enormity of the destruction and death was largely hidden from view. The world had an inkling of what was going on; how could they not when humanitarian was not allowed to enter Gaza. But with the United States supporting Israel, Gaza was left on its own.
Hassan has written a first-hand account of the suffering the Gazans endured. The bone-biting winter cold and the rains that soaked and flooded everyone and everything, the summer heat that sapped what little energy was left to the starving residents, the day-and-night bombing raids and constant fear, and the grief for lost loved ones - these are powerful images that Hassan provides us. The most haunting images for me were the children: orphans, amputees, starving, trying to understand this new and awful world order they found themselves in.
Ralph Nader entered 680,000 deaths into the U.S. Congressional Record based on studies by doctors and epidemiologists that take into account deaths from trauma, disease, lack of clean water, lack of medicine, lack of food, and lack of shelter. 544,000 of these deaths were due to deprivation.479,000 of these deaths were children, and 380,000 of those children were under the age of five. The population of Gaza was 2.5 million, and 1 in 5 died. Infrastructure, homes, hospitals, schools, water systems, electrical grids - all destroyed by one hundred thousand tons of explosives. The humanitarian crisis is still ongoing.
Israel bombed hospitals and schools, both illegal under international law and yet no penalty has been attached.
Hasan Kanafani (pseudonym) was a recent graduate from the Faculty of Engineering at Al-Azhar University in Gaza when the genocide began. He posted on Reddit when he could, and three followers began assembling his posts, which made its way to Canadian author Yasuko Thanh. She edited and found a publisher for this literary journalism. Foreign journalists were barred from entering Gaza, and local journalists were being killed. The enormity of the destruction and death was largely hidden from view. The world had an inkling of what was going on; how could they not when humanitarian was not allowed to enter Gaza. But with the United States supporting Israel, Gaza was left on its own.
Hassan has written a first-hand account of the suffering the Gazans endured. The bone-biting winter cold and the rains that soaked and flooded everyone and everything, the summer heat that sapped what little energy was left to the starving residents, the day-and-night bombing raids and constant fear, and the grief for lost loved ones - these are powerful images that Hassan provides us. The most haunting images for me were the children: orphans, amputees, starving, trying to understand this new and awful world order they found themselves in.
Ralph Nader entered 680,000 deaths into the U.S. Congressional Record based on studies by doctors and epidemiologists that take into account deaths from trauma, disease, lack of clean water, lack of medicine, lack of food, and lack of shelter. 544,000 of these deaths were due to deprivation.479,000 of these deaths were children, and 380,000 of those children were under the age of five. The population of Gaza was 2.5 million, and 1 in 5 died. Infrastructure, homes, hospitals, schools, water systems, electrical grids - all destroyed by one hundred thousand tons of explosives. The humanitarian crisis is still ongoing.
Israel bombed hospitals and schools, both illegal under international law and yet no penalty has been attached.
June 25, 2026
Pizza Before We Die is heartbreaking and infuriating. But more than anything, it is a reminder that behind every headline, statistic, and news report are real people trying to survive the unimaginable.
What makes this book so powerful is that Hassan isn't a journalist reporting from a distance. He is living through the devastation himself. Through his daily accounts, we witness not only the destruction of homes and communities, but also the slow erosion of normal life, dignity, security, and hope. The details that hit hardest are often the simplest ones: searching for food, worrying about loved ones, trying to maintain some sense of routine, and holding onto small moments of humanity amid overwhelming loss.
The title itself captures something essential about the book. Even in the face of death and deprivation, there remains a desire to live, to dream, and to experience ordinary joys. That contrast between unimaginable suffering and persistent hope makes the stories all the more devastating.
Hassan's writing is straightforward and unembellished, which only makes it more effective. There is no need for dramatic language when the reality he describes is already so overwhelming. His observations are intimate, immediate, and impossible to dismiss. Reading this felt less like reading a book and more like bearing witness to someone's life unfolding in real time.
The foreword and background provided by Yasuko Thanh add valuable context, but Hassan's voice carries the weight of this work. His account offers a perspective that many of us would otherwise never encounter directly, especially at a time when so many stories from Gaza struggle to reach the outside world.
This isn't an easy read, nor should it be. It is a book about grief, survival, resilience, and the cost of looking away. It asks readers to listen, to remember, and to recognize the humanity of people enduring circumstances that are almost impossible to comprehend—a devastating but essential read.
What makes this book so powerful is that Hassan isn't a journalist reporting from a distance. He is living through the devastation himself. Through his daily accounts, we witness not only the destruction of homes and communities, but also the slow erosion of normal life, dignity, security, and hope. The details that hit hardest are often the simplest ones: searching for food, worrying about loved ones, trying to maintain some sense of routine, and holding onto small moments of humanity amid overwhelming loss.
The title itself captures something essential about the book. Even in the face of death and deprivation, there remains a desire to live, to dream, and to experience ordinary joys. That contrast between unimaginable suffering and persistent hope makes the stories all the more devastating.
Hassan's writing is straightforward and unembellished, which only makes it more effective. There is no need for dramatic language when the reality he describes is already so overwhelming. His observations are intimate, immediate, and impossible to dismiss. Reading this felt less like reading a book and more like bearing witness to someone's life unfolding in real time.
The foreword and background provided by Yasuko Thanh add valuable context, but Hassan's voice carries the weight of this work. His account offers a perspective that many of us would otherwise never encounter directly, especially at a time when so many stories from Gaza struggle to reach the outside world.
This isn't an easy read, nor should it be. It is a book about grief, survival, resilience, and the cost of looking away. It asks readers to listen, to remember, and to recognize the humanity of people enduring circumstances that are almost impossible to comprehend—a devastating but essential read.
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.
June 12, 2026
There are no words I can use to adequately express the grief on reading this book. I am consumed with sorrow.
All you can do is imagine yourself and your family in these pages. Your child with 3 raisins. Your child digging at your grave to cook them something. Your spouse digging through the rubble of your home trying to find you.
I kept putting it down as I couldn’t read it while eating, or lying in my warm bed, or sitting in the sun, or enjoying my dog’s weight against my leg. I read it on the ferry; watching fed and happy kids running around, people talking in the breakfast line up, the clarity of the ocean the mountains the trees, pleasure boats, cars full of fuel, bags full of snacks, charged phones and electricity and toilets with sinks and running water. I am consumed with sorrow.
Democracy is a farce. Settler colonialism still governs our western nations. I used to be a pacifist and now I actively call forth pain on all who celebrate the genocide of Palestinians.
All you can do is imagine yourself and your family in these pages. Your child with 3 raisins. Your child digging at your grave to cook them something. Your spouse digging through the rubble of your home trying to find you.
I kept putting it down as I couldn’t read it while eating, or lying in my warm bed, or sitting in the sun, or enjoying my dog’s weight against my leg. I read it on the ferry; watching fed and happy kids running around, people talking in the breakfast line up, the clarity of the ocean the mountains the trees, pleasure boats, cars full of fuel, bags full of snacks, charged phones and electricity and toilets with sinks and running water. I am consumed with sorrow.
Democracy is a farce. Settler colonialism still governs our western nations. I used to be a pacifist and now I actively call forth pain on all who celebrate the genocide of Palestinians.
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”
July 8, 2026
It feels wrong to give this book a five-star review on a website when it is a real, human account of the horrific reality in Gaza that is still ongoing.
I urge everyone to read this book. Western media has failed to fully convey Palestinian perspectives and the realities of daily life in Gaza, as much of the world has turned its back.
One sentiment that struck me is that while the world may have failed Gazans and Palestinians, history will not. This book helps preserve the truth of what happened, and what is still happening, to the men, women, and children of Gaza.
I urge everyone to read this book. Western media has failed to fully convey Palestinian perspectives and the realities of daily life in Gaza, as much of the world has turned its back.
One sentiment that struck me is that while the world may have failed Gazans and Palestinians, history will not. This book helps preserve the truth of what happened, and what is still happening, to the men, women, and children of Gaza.
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.
July 5, 2026
Nothing new for those of us who have been eyewitnessing the genocide for last 1000 days but reading it still gives you a punch in the gut when you think about a little girl crying in a cold wet tent I'm December.
What sets it apart for me is the introductory chapter which is a must read for every Canadian or anyone who lives in a country based on settler colonialism. We need to be reminded that the land we are on has just as bloody a history of not more.
What sets it apart for me is the introductory chapter which is a must read for every Canadian or anyone who lives in a country based on settler colonialism. We need to be reminded that the land we are on has just as bloody a history of not more.
July 7, 2026
3.5
A heart-wrenching account from gaza. How is there so much hate in this world? International law is flagrantly ignored - hospitals are bombed, international aid is blocked... Gaza has received the heaviest aerial bombardment in world history - 100,000 tons of explosives; the equivalent of 6 hiroshimas. The distruction can be seen from space. And the gaza strip is 85 times smaller than Vancouver island!! We need to do more to stop this atrocity.
A heart-wrenching account from gaza. How is there so much hate in this world? International law is flagrantly ignored - hospitals are bombed, international aid is blocked... Gaza has received the heaviest aerial bombardment in world history - 100,000 tons of explosives; the equivalent of 6 hiroshimas. The distruction can be seen from space. And the gaza strip is 85 times smaller than Vancouver island!! We need to do more to stop this atrocity.
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.
June 26, 2026
The book is an “eyewitness account in Gaza.” We all need to understand what war does to innocent civilians. Completely and utterly heart breaking. See Page 70: “what happens in Gaza…..it is a man made humanitarian crisis- allowed to continue by the world’s silence”
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