This Palestinian journalist kept a diary as Israeli forces invaded – now it’s a book

Summary

NPR's Book of the Day: "This Palestinian journalist kept a diary as Israeli forces invaded – now it’s a book"

Date: October 23, 2025
Host: Chloe Weiner
Guest: Plestia Al Akkad, journalist and author
Interviewed by: Leila Fadel

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Episode Overview

This episode centers around Palestinian journalist Plestia Al Akkad and her new book, The Eyes of Gaza. The book is based on the diary Al Akkad kept during 45 days spent reporting from Gaza as Israeli forces invaded, following the events after October 7, 2023. Chloe Weiner introduces the episode by connecting Al Akkad's work to the tradition of diaries that become testimonies of history, highlighting the particular role of Al Akkad's social media and written experiences in shaping perception of the Gaza conflict.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Personal as Historical Record

• [00:02] Chloe Weiner introduces Al Akkad's diary in the lineage of significant historical journals, contrasting the personal, immediate nature of such records with their later significance.
  • “Finding it difficult to imagine what it would be like to have such a personal document entered into the historical record…”
• Al Akkad's diary is framed as not just a personal story but representing millions of Palestinians.
  • [02:32] Plestia Al Akkad: “This diary isn’t my story alone. It’s the story of millions of Palestinians. This book is a reminder that history didn’t start on October 7th. History for Palestinians started in 1948.”

Pre- and Post-October 7: The Shifting Face of Gaza

• [01:24] & [03:13] Leila Fadel and Al Akkad discuss the endpoint of “normal life” in Gaza, where Al Akkad’s Instagram used to show carefree moments and now documents war and loss.
  • Chloe Weiner describes: “Snapshots...lounging by the beach in Gaza City, hanging with friends, getting glammed up, celebrating Palestinian culture. It all took a dark turn soon after Hamas attacked Israel.”
• [04:35] Plestia Al Akkad stresses how Instagram became a tool for catching up on life before, and now, it’s where Gazans learn about their friends’ deaths.

The Impact on Children

• [03:36] Al Akkad focuses on how the constant violence shapes childhoods:
  • “The first seven years of your life...it shapes who you are as a person. And in Gaza, children are not allowed to be children. Right now, kids in Gaza are growing up afraid of the sky…”
  • Notes that babies born during conflict “don’t even know what a home is like.”

Grief, Resilience, and the Need for Meaning

• [05:57] Leila Fadel reads a powerful passage from Al Akkad’s diary regarding mothers of martyrs. Al Akkad clarifies that celebrating these deaths is a means of survival:
  • “We don’t celebrate death, but death is all around us, and we need a way to convert it back to life.”
• [06:30] Al Akkad recounts a moment with a family facing bombing:
  • “Leon’s dad started saying, don’t worry, guys. At least if we get killed today, it's like we're getting killed for a cause bigger than ourselves...But obviously it's not okay. But it was us trying to make sense of that moment.”

Evacuation, Displacement, and the Loss of Normalcy

• [05:25] Discussing her best friend Dana, still in Gaza:
  • “She keeps evacuating a lot...it’s like an endless loop of displacement that has been going on for two years.”
• [07:24] On Gaza’s physical and emotional destruction:
  • “When I look at pictures and videos of Gaza, you can’t even recognize it anymore...So whenever I try to remember my memories and my life in Gaza, it’s like I’m remembering something that in real life it no longer exists.”

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Notable Quotes

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 02:32 | Plestia Al Akkad | “This diary isn’t my story alone. It’s the story of millions of Palestinians. This book is a reminder that history didn’t start on October 7th. History for Palestinians started in 1948.” | | 03:36 | Plestia Al Akkad | “Right now, kids in Gaza are growing up afraid of the sky...There are a lot of babies who recently got born during the genocide and they don’t even know what a home is like.” | | 04:35 | Plestia Al Akkad | “Now, you learn about your friend's death from Instagram. So right now, even Instagram for Gazans is different than the rest of the world.” | | 05:57 | Plestia Al Akkad | “We don’t celebrate death, but death is all around us, and we need a way to convert it back to life.” | | 06:30 | Plestia Al Akkad | “[Leon’s dad said:] At least if we get killed today, it's like we're getting killed for a cause bigger than ourselves. It's like we're getting killed for Palestine. So it's okay, but obviously it's not okay. But it was us trying to make sense of that moment.” | | 07:24 | Plestia Al Akkad | “When I look at pictures and videos of Gaza, you can’t even recognize it anymore...it no longer exists.” |

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Memorable Moments and Timestamps

• 01:24-01:48: Description of Al Akkad’s life and Instagram use before the October 7 attack.
• 02:32-02:45: Al Akkad situates her diary in the broader sweep of Palestinian history.
• 03:36-04:12: Reflection on the impact of war on children’s ability to experience normal childhoods.
• 05:01-05:25: The grief of learning about friends’ deaths via social media, revealing the normalization of tragedy.
• 06:30-07:05: Al Akkad’s story of solidarity and coping during bombardment.
• 07:24-08:01: The erasure of the familiar landscape and collective memory of Gaza.

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Tone and Language

• The conversation is intimate and reflective, marked by empathy and a striving for clarity amidst trauma.
• Al Akkad’s language is direct and poignant, frequently returning to themes of memory, loss, resilience, and the distinct struggles of Gazans both historically and in the present.

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Summary

This episode offers a compelling exploration of Plestia Al Akkad’s diary-turned-book as both a personal and collective chronicle of life in Gaza under siege. Through Al Akkad’s vivid storytelling and the probing interview, listeners are drawn into the day-to-day resilience, struggles, and efforts to find moments of humanity amidst devastation. The episode underscores the importance of lived experience as historical record, particularly for communities whose suffering is often reduced to statistics or headlines. Al Akkad’s reflections on pre-war joy, the altered reality of social media, and the desperate need to make meaning out of loss render the tragedy of Gaza at once singular and universal.

Listeners gain deep insight not only into the specifics of Al Akkad’s journey, but also into the ongoing Palestinian experience—its history, trauma, and undiminished spirit.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, this is NPR's book of the Day. I'm Chloe Weiner. I remember reading famous diaries back in high school. Anne Frank's the Diary of a Young Girl, of course, or the journals of Sylvia Plath. And finding it difficult to imagine what it would be like to have such a personal document entered into the historical record, to have one's own point of view play a role in our collective memory. Palestinian journalist Plastia Al Akkad has published her own diary as a book called the Eyes of Gaza. Her writing is a record of the 45 days she spent reporting on the ground as Israeli forces invaded the territory two years ago. Another way she documented this time was through Instagram. And in Today's interview with NPR's Leila Fadel, they talk about how Al Akkad social media began to reveal a very different reality Pre and Post October 7th. That's coming up.

[B]

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[C]

Come check this. If you scrolled through Plestiad's Instagram account before October 7, 2023, you would have found snapshots of the young journalists set to music, lounging by the beach in Gaza City, hanging with friends, getting glammed up, celebrating Palestinian culture. It all took a dark turn soon after Hamas attacked Israel.

[D]

Okay, during great times, all the neighbors.

[C]

Al Aqed started chronicling Israel's response, showing world what it was like to live under Israel's relentless and as you'll hear, terrifying bombardment.

[D]

And here is the family. They're gathering all together, also in a place far away from the wind. I was trying to explain things, but I think you can hear them now.

[C]

Every so often, Al Aq had posted pages from her diary until she was able to leave Gaza. Those pages have turned into her new book, the Eyes of Gaza.

[D]

This diary isn't my story alone. It's the story of millions of Palestinians. This book is a reminder that history didn't start on October 7th. History for Palestinians started in 1948.

[C]

And in Nakba, Nakba is the Arabic word for catastrophe. And it's what Palestinians use to refer to the forcible displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes in 1948, when Israel was created. She would hear stories about it from her grandfather.

[D]

So I always thought these stories are exaggeration until I lived them myself. And until now, the whole world is seeing them live, being reported and documented on tv.

[C]

You wrote in your book and your diary, quote, in the morning you see people being forcibly removed from their homes and it breaks your heart. And in the evening, you play with two kids for five minutes and it heals something inside of you. You I noticed that you often brought up children who you encountered during your reporting in your daily accounts. Why do you think you focused on kids so much?

[D]

The thing is, the first seven years of your life, your experiences, it shapes who you are as a person. And in Gaza, children are not allowed to be children. Right now, kids in Gaza are growing up afraid of the sky because when they look at the sky, there's either bomb leaflets telling you to evacuate, and even when there is clouds, you look at them and you can't differentiate are these clouds or. Or there's a smoke from a bombing. There are a lot of babies who recently got born during the genocide and they don't even know what a home is like. They know what a tent is, but they didn't get to live in a home or experience it.

[C]

You also wrote a lot about how you didn't want Palestinians just to be known by death and destruction, that there is joy and love. And I'd love to hear more about that effort because I think about Your Instagram pre October 7th really was about celebrating fashions and food and what Gaza is and what Palestinians in Gaza are.

[D]

Instagram used to be, for me at least, a platform where you open, you catch up with your friends. What are people posting? What are they doing with their lives? Oh, my friend got married. She posted a picture. Oh, she has a baby. Oh, she traveled. She went for uni. Like that's what we're used to seeing. But right now, you learn about your friend's death from Instagram. So right now, even Instagram for Gazans is different than the rest of the world.

[C]

There is this moment in your book where you get on Instagram and you realize one of your high school friends has been killed. And that's how you find out. Or there was another moment where your best friend, Dana, is she still in Gaza?

[D]

Yes, she's still in Gaza. And I spoke to her actually yesterday.

[C]

I remember in the book where you get so Excited when you see her name pop up on your screen because you only hear from her sporadically. Is that still the case?

[D]

That's still the case because she keeps evacuating a lot. So whenever she's, like, in a place, oh, she has Internet. That's like, for five days. Then she needs to evacuate again, try to find Internet again. So it's like an endless loop of displacement that has been going on for two years.

[C]

I never imagined it would go on for two years.

[D]

Neither did I, to be honest. The last time we spoke together, I thought, oh, my God, Israel is outdoing themselves. There's nothing where they can do. But here we are a year later, and there is still more evil that Israel is doing.

[C]

There was this section in your book that really struck me. You wrote, in Gaza you'll find mothers of martyrs celebrating the sacrifice of their children. Does this mean that they're pleased that Israel killed their children? No. But are they proud that their children give their lives for Palestine? Yes. It's an act of giving meaning to the worst loss a person can possibly endure. We don't celebrate death, but death is all around us, and we need a way to convert it back to life. Can you tell me about this passage, what you meant about making sense out of senseless death?

[D]

Yes. This reminds me, actually, when I was once in the hospital with Leena and her family. Leen is a little girl that I used to tutor. And Sayeel has ordered all of us people in northern Afrazza to evacuate. And that day, almost everyone felt, it's the end. Sayyid will kill all of us. And Leon's dad started saying, don't worry, guys. At least if we get killed today, it's like we're getting killed for a cause bigger than ourselves. It's like we're getting killed for Palestine. So it's okay, but obviously it's not okay. But it was us trying to make sense of that moment.

[C]

You start the book describing the Gaza before October 7th, the cafe you and your friends especially love to go to. I mean, if you could just describe in detail the Gaza and your neighborhood that you loved so much before and what is left of it today.

[D]

Even though it's a simple question, I actually find it a difficult question to answer. Because when I look at pictures and videos of Gaza, you can't even recognize it anymore. Literally everything is getting wiped out. Churches, mosques, schools, buildings, streets, cafes, restaurants. It's hard for you to recognize the areas. So whenever I try to remember my memories and my life in Gaza, it's like I'm remembering something that in real life it no longer exists like it exists in pictures, but in a way it doesn't exist anymore.

[C]

Plastia Laka her new book is the Eyes of Gaza. It was her diary in Gaza and it is now out for the world to read.

[E]

Hey Andrew Here, host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast. And yeah, I love new books, but there's just something about rereading an old favorite on our new limited series, Books We've Loved. We're revisiting some classics from Pride and Prejudice to Dune to Everything in between and talking about why they're worth reading today. Listen to NPR's Books We've Loved right on this podcast feed every Saturday on the NPR one app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[B]

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