War on Writers: A look at writers killed in Gaza 

Refaat Alareer was a 44-year-old Palestinian writer, poet, academic, activist, and father of six.  Born in the Shijaieh neighbourhood of Gaza, he was instrumental in cultivating a generation of young Gazan authors who wielded the power of storytelling to promote the Palestinian struggle for liberation and human dignity.  Alareer was a professor of English literature at the now-destroyed Islamic University of Gaza.  He earned his M.A. from University College London in the UK, and his PhD from the Universiti Putra Malaysia. On 7 October 2023, an Israeli air strike killed Alareer along with his brother (Salah), his nephew (Mohamed), his sister (Asmaa), and four of her children.

Because of his critical views surrounding Israeli disinformation following the 6th October 2023 attack,  Alareer was subjected to a vicious smear campaign, and received death threats and threats of sexual violence against his female relatives. In April 2024, an Israeli airstrike killed his eldest daughter (Shimaa), his 2-month-old grandson (Abdel Rahman), and his son-in-law (Mohamed) while sheltering in the building of an international relief charity. 

Alareer dedicated his life to writing about the experiences of Gazans living under the illegal Israeli occupation and the 17-year-long blockade of Gaza. He edited two compilations by young Palestinian writers: Gaza Writes Back (2014),  and Gaza Unsilenced (2015), both containing collections of short stories, essays, poems, and photos documenting Palestinians’ experiences under the blockade. In 2022, he contributed to an anthology titled Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire. A collection of his writings is expected to be published later this year, titled If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose, in an anthology named after his most renowned poem.

Alareer was also a prominent figure of We Are Not Numbers, a non-profit organisation established following the 2014 war on Gaza, aiming to encourage a new generation of authors to tell the stories of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation. His poem If I must diehas become a living manifestation of the power of literature capturing the most painful human experiences, and reflecting the collective story of Palestinians killed under Israeli occupation.

—

If I must die,

you must live

to tell my story

to sell my things

to buy a piece of cloth

and some strings,

(make it white with a long tail)

so that a child, somewhere in Gaza

while looking heaven in the eye

awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—

and bid no one farewell

not even to his flesh

not even to himself—

sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above

and thinks for a moment an angel is there

bringing back love

If I must die

let it bring hope

let it be a tale