Gaza Artist Destroys His Paintings To Feed Starving Family

NDTV

28-07-2025

A 43-year-old visual artist and father of five has been forced to destroy his paintings and use the wood to cook meals for his family. Israel's nearly two-year-long war on the narrow strip has left a trail of destruction, with no access to food, fuel and medical facilities in the last six months.
In a video shared on Instagram, Taha Hussein Abu Ghali was seen tearing apart his paintings, setting fire and baking bread for his family. The clip shows him cutting his painting, snapping wooden frames and stacking the splinters.
The artist said, "These were my most beautiful paintings, God is my witness. To me, they were like music to the heart. And now, I break them apart and burn them. Because art has turned into bread."
He added, "We're forced, with pain in our hearts, to burn our paintings under the shadow of this crisis. We have no fuel, no electricity, no gas, nothing. And if we're lucky, maybe we have flour or bulgur. But there's nothing to cook with. So, we take the wood and bake bread with it. May God help us."
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A post shared by طه حسين أبو غالي (@art_taha_husien)
In an interaction with TRT World over the phone, Hussein said, "To be honest, we're just one step away from starving to death. We're still managing, scraping by with help from friends. But the humanitarian situation is extremely dangerous. We are on the edge of mass death."
Displaced for the 11th time, the artist and his family are currently sheltering in a tent in Asda City, west of Khan Younis. When asked what made him burn over twenty of his paintings, he said, "One kilo of wood costs 8 shekels. And we need at least three kilos a day just to make bread or cook something small for lunch. After burning the doors, the cabinets, even the kids' desks, the paintings were all we had left."
Taha Hussein Abu Ghali works with abstract and cubist influences. He has a Master's degree in mental health and a degree in art education and humanities. In addition to being an art therapy researcher, he teaches Arabic calligraphy and arts and crafts at Al-Nasr Model School.
The humanitarian crisis, coupled with the endless bombing by Israel, has shot the malnutrition rates to "alarming levels" in Gaza, the World Health Organization said on Sunday.
"Malnutrition is on a dangerous trajectory in the Gaza Strip, marked by a spike in deaths in July," the WHO said in a statement.
In 2025, of the 116 recorded malnutrition-related deaths, 63 occurred in July. The number included at least 24 children under the age of five, a child aged over five, and 38 adults.
The Israeli war, which began after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, has killed close to 60,000 Palestinians.