26-05-2025
Historian returning from Gaza: 'The most shocking thing is the gap with the outside world's perception'
Between December 19, 2024, and January 21, 2025, French historian Jean-Pierre Filiu, who writes a weekly column on the Middle East in Le Monde, was able to go to the Gaza Strip. The professor at Sciences Po university is publishing his eyewitness account in a book, Un historien à Gaza ("A Historian in Gaza"), set to be released this week in French.
On Monday, May 26, Filiu answered questions from Le Monde 's readers. Here is a translation of the Q&A originally published in a liveblog in French.
Menton: What event shocked you the most during your time in Gaza?
I was in Gaza from December 19, 2024, to February 21, 2025 – a full month of open hostilities, plus two days of truce. The paradox is that the most violent days were those preceding the truce coming into effect, on January 19. The Israelis intensified the bombings, sometimes very close to where I was staying, while the outside world had been celebrating the announcement of a ceasefire since January 15. The most shocking thing I experienced is the gap between the ordeals experienced in Gaza and the outside world's perception.
Empathie: How are orphans being cared for in Gaza at the moment? Is there any estimate of their numbers?
The tragedy of Gaza's orphans is one of the worst disasters unfolding within the broader tragedy of the besieged enclave. The number of orphans is the subject of much debate due to the collapse of the health system and the disappearance of entire families, sometimes with only one surviving child. The society, which I once knew to be so protective within its family structures, has itself collapsed under the weight of widespread slaughter and repeated displacements. Wounded orphans are left abandoned in hospitals with no relatives, not even distant ones, coming to claim them. Bands of street children haunt public dumps, scavenging nylon and wood to resell as fuel.
Vajra: How did you enter the Gaza Strip and how did you leave?
I have been traveling to Gaza for many years, always with the approval of the Israeli authorities as part of what is called a "coordination," generally granted the evening before for the next morning.
This time, I was integrated into the local team of Doctors Without Borders, which is doing extraordinary work in Gaza and which I assisted thanks to my intimate knowledge of the enclave. I boarded a bus "coordinated" by the United Nations, departing from Amman, the capital of Jordan, along with about 20 other aid workers. Once admitted into Israel in another bus, we were "escorted" by the Israeli military police to Kerem Shalom, the Israeli entry point into the Gaza Strip, where we were then transferred to a UN convoy. We were only allowed to bring personal medication and 3 kilos of food (with no more than 1 kilo per product). I left Gaza following a similar "coordination" and by the reverse route.
When there are bombings, we hear about wounded people being taken to the hospital, even though most hospitals are out of service. Can you describe the conditions in which the wounded are treated?
The 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been hit hard by the bombings and, for some, by temporary occupation by Israeli soldiers. Some of these hospitals managed to recover from such shocks and resume operations, albeit under extreme conditions. The courage and experience of healthcare workers have enabled hospital facilities to keep functioning, despite ongoing shortages of medicines, painkillers, and medical supplies in general. But they have paid a terrible price for such dedication, with more than 1,000 doctors, nurses, and healthcare staff killed. The most threatened and targeted are the first responders who rush to the sites of strikes, but they are not spared either.
Akinator: Could you share with us how the population of Gaza perceives Hamas? Have recent events fueled opposition to the group, or have they instead fostered greater solidarity in the enclave?
Opposition to Hamas had already been very strong in Gaza for many years, due to the rejection of the authoritarianism and cronyism of the Islamist movement. The elections scheduled for 2021 would have resulted in a resounding defeat for Hamas at the polls in Gaza, but the United States and the European Union agreed to let the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah postpone these elections indefinitely to keep President Mahmoud Abbas at the head of the PA. It is, in my view, unquestionable that Hamas, through its terrorist campaign of October 7, 2023, was also seeking to strengthen its grip on Gaza's population, who would pay the heaviest price for the Israeli reprisals. Gaza's residents use the term "drones" to describe the Hamas men enforcing "order" in the enclave. Their favorite punishment is shooting their opponents in the kneecaps. Gaza was recently the scene of popular, spontaneous protests against Hamas, which managed to suppress this unprecedented dissent due to the continuation, and even intensification, of Israeli bombings.
Geraldine: The destruction seems so massive that one wonders what ordinary life is left in Gaza. Are there still functioning banks, do people work and get paid? Or are all Gazans in pure survival mode?
The daily existence of Gaza's men and women is indeed akin to a constant struggle for survival, always hoping in vain for a lasting ceasefire (not just a brief truce like from January 19 to March 2). Salaries are still generally paid to local institution staff and international organization employees. These are bank transfers that, via electronic payment applications, allow people to pay vendors connected to such apps. As for cash, it exists almost exclusively in the Israeli currency, the shekel. There are even "repairers" who preserve the bills in circulation. But these are only stopgap measures in a situation of total, widespread distress.
Curieux: Regarding the distribution of humanitarian aid, Israel tells us that it is systematically diverted by Hamas. What have you observed in this regard?
It must first be noted that the Israeli army knows very little about the situation on the ground in the Gaza Strip, where it now has virtually no reliable sources or "collaborators," unlike during the long period of ground occupation of the territory from 1967 to 2005. The Israeli government designated the entire enclave as a "hostile entity" after Hamas took control in 2007. For two decades, no Israeli has entered Gaza except in a tank, which is not the best way to build trust with the local population.
Constant drone surveillance cannot make up for this severe lack of human intelligence, which largely contributed to the collapse of Israeli security on October 7, 2023. This is why Israeli claims, including those about humanitarian aid, are much closer to propaganda than information. None of the many institutions involved in humanitarian assistance to Gaza's population has been able to confirm Israeli allegations of systematic diversion. During my stay, I documented many cases where gangs of looters, armed and supported by Israel, attacked humanitarian convoys.
Bruno: Do you still have hope for Gaza? What could this meager hope rest upon, if it exists?
It is fundamentally the courage and dignity of Gaza's men and women, even when plunged into such horror, that give me reasons to hope, despite everything. The fact that they have managed to preserve their humanity, more or less intact, in such a disaster commands respect. But let us acknowledge that our world has abandoned them for far too long. And this tragedy, which has literally unfolded before our eyes, will now haunt us. It is all the more urgent to act for an immediate ceasefire, with the release of hostages and withdrawal of the Israeli army. The key to lasting calm, however, lies in lifting the blockade, which, imposed for 16 long years, did not prevent the bloodiest day in Israel's history, on October 7, 2023. It is imperative for Gaza to return to the world and for the world to return to Gaza. Then anything will be possible, within the framework of Israel coexisting with a peaceful, demilitarized Palestinian state.
