Young Palestinian artists from Gaza exhibit their vision of war

Young Palestinian artists from Gaza organized an impromptu exhibition on Tuesday, seeking another way to show the world what happened during the war and the fragile cease-fire.

The series of paintings, depicting a large part of life in the Gaza Strip, was displayed outdoors, vulnerable to the weather and curious glances. The paintings featured a dove, a bullet impact, the silhouette of a person, in a territory where the war between Israel and Hamas has claimed over 70,000 lives.

The sunny day in Bureij, central Gaza, saw children playing and shouting while art enthusiasts took photos and reflected on their meaning.

“They painted their feelings, ambitions, hopes, and visions as part of a continuous four-month exercise in my studio,” said Ghanem Al-Din, who organized the exhibition of dozens of paintings.

Obay Al-Qarshali, 21, was one of the artists. He recounted fleeing his home in Gaza City in late 2023 following the start of the war triggered by Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7. He left behind over 30 of his paintings, now lost under the bombs and rubble.

His displayed canvas depicted broken glass, cars covered with mattresses and other personal effects, and the rubble of buildings. All too familiar to him and the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been displaced, often more than once.

Obay Al-Qarshali explained that he had changed locations at least seven times during the war.

“Because of all these displacements and the sufferings experienced in managing and carrying our belongings, tents, in the crowd, and many other things, I wanted to express something that deeply troubled me: the fact that we left our homes and places of safety, forced to flee, disperse, and change location. This artwork speaks volumes,” he declared.

The timeline for the next steps of the cease-fire in Gaza remains uncertain. The Hamas disarmament poses a major challenge before the transition to new governance, stabilization, and territory reconstruction can truly begin.

Reconstruction is expected to cost over $70 billion and take a decade, according to a report released last week by the United Nations and the European Union.

The report indicates that Gaza’s economy has contracted by 84%. More than 371,000 homes have been destroyed. Over half of Gaza’s hospitals are “out of service.” Almost all schools are destroyed or damaged in this territory of over 2 million inhabitants.

While large-scale fighting has eased since the cease-fire took effect in October, Israeli forces have continued almost daily strikes and gunfire around army-controlled areas, killing over 800 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, keeps detailed records of victims, generally considered reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. It does not provide a breakdown between civilians and combatants.

An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday hit a car in Gaza, killing four men, according to the Shifa hospital.

The strike occurred far from the “yellow line” that separates Israeli-controlled areas from the rest of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army stated that they had targeted a “terrorist” at that location, without providing further details.

The bodies were wrapped in white cloth and laid on the ground outside so that the crowd could pay their respects.