Exhibition 1 of 8
Gaza: Siege and Sumud
The record of the strip
One of the oldest cities on earth, under the most documented siege of the modern era — and the people who keep teaching, writing, and reporting through it.
9 stops · walked in order
Cover image: Gaza, central section. Matson Photo Service, Library of Congress (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
Gaza is usually shown to the world only in fire. This exhibition shows it in documents: the blockade’s legal architecture, the wars’ toll as recorded by UN and human-rights monitors, and the voices of the people who live there — journalists, poets, medics — whose work is the counter-siege.
Nothing here asks for your sentiment. It asks for your attention.
Drawn from 5 timeline events · 1 place · 1 figure · 1 poet · 1 culture entry.
- 01
Gaza CityPlace
Gaza Strip
Begin with the city itself — four thousand years before the headlines.
Gaza City is among the oldest cities on earth — Philistine stronghold, Mamluk and Ottoman provincial center, home of the Great Omari Mosque. Besieged since 2007, it has since October 2023 been subjected to destruction on a scale that has shattered its ancient fabric.
Open this record↑ StartStop 2 ↓ - 02
The Gaza BlockadeTimeline
2007
2007: the closure begins. What 'blockade' means in law and in life.
Israel and Egypt impose a sweeping land, air, and sea blockade on Gaza after Hamas takes control, restricting the movement of two million people and essential goods.
- 03
Operation Cast LeadTimeline
2008–2009
2008–2009: the first of the major operations, and the documented figures.
Israel's twenty-two-day offensive on a blockaded Gaza kills some 1,400 Palestinians and thirteen Israelis, and triggers a UN investigation that finds evidence of war crimes on both sides.
- 04
Operation Protective Edge: The 51-Day War on GazaTimeline
2014
2014: fifty-one days.
The deadliest escalation yet in Gaza: more than 2,200 Palestinians and 73 people in Israel are killed over fifty-one days, and a UN commission of inquiry finds evidence of war crimes by both sides.
- 05
The Great March of ReturnTimeline
2018
2018: the unarmed march to the fence — and the UN Commission of Inquiry.
Tens of thousands of Gazans join weekly protests at the boundary fence demanding the right of return; Israeli snipers kill more than 180 demonstrators.
- 06
Wael al-DahdouhFigure
1970–
The bureau chief who kept reporting after losing his family on air.
Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, who kept reporting through the killing of his wife, son, daughter, and grandson in 2023 and became a global symbol of press freedom.
- 07
Mosab Abu TohaPoet
1992–
The librarian of the Edward Said Library, writing from the tent.
A Gaza-born poet and librarian, Abu Toha writes from the everyday experience of siege, family, and the search for normalcy under bombardment.
- 08
SumudCulture
Steadfastness — the word Gaza keeps demonstrating.
Steadfastness — the Palestinian ethic of remaining on the land and enduring, turned from a posture of survival into a way of life.
- 09
The ICJ Genocide CaseTimeline
2024
2023–2024: the war, and the case at The Hague.
The International Court of Justice orders provisional measures in South Africa's genocide case against Israel over Gaza, finding the rights claimed plausible.
Open this record↑ Stop 8End of the walk
End of the walk
You have passed 9 stops across 5 rooms of the archive. Every one of them is a full record with its own sources — the exhibition supplied only the order.
Exit through the archive
Cite this page
Every claim above carries its sources — citation is the point.
- Chicago
“Gaza: Siege and Sumud.” Exhibitions, FALASTEEN.AI. Accessed 22 August 2026. https://falasteen.ai/exhibitions/gaza-siege-and-sumud.- MLA
“Gaza: Siege and Sumud.” Exhibitions, FALASTEEN.AI, 2026, https://falasteen.ai/exhibitions/gaza-siege-and-sumud. Accessed 22 August 2026.- BibTeX
@misc{falasteen-gaza-siege-and-sumud, title = {Gaza: Siege and Sumud}, howpublished = {\url{https://falasteen.ai/exhibitions/gaza-siege-and-sumud}}, organization = {FALASTEEN.AI — A Living Archive for Palestine}, year = {2026}, note = {Accessed 2026-08-22} }