Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad's first book set to be released in 2025

The Eyes of Gaza will chronicle writer's experience of living in Gaza when the war began on October 7

Plestia Alaqad's first book will detail her experience as a Palestinian journalist in Gaza as the war began. Plestia Alaqad / Instagram

Palestinian writer and journalist Plestia Alaqad is releasing her first book, a chronicle on what it was like to live in Gaza immediately after the October 7 attacks and in the 45 days that followed.

Available to pre-order now before its publication next year, The Eyes of Gaza is a series of diary extracts.

Alaqad, 22, has received international recognition for her coverage as the Gaza-Israel war broke out last year. She used social media to report and document the impact it had on the lives of Palestinian civilians.

Her video diaries, emotional storytelling and first-hand reporting gained Alaqad millions of followers. But in November 2023, she fled with her family to Egypt and then Australia, where she now resides.

Pan Macmillan won an auction against five other publishers for the rights to publish the book. “The Eyes of Gaza is hands-down the most important book I’ve ever worked on,” editor Ause Abdelhaq told book trade publication The Bookseller.

“The continuing situation in Palestine is the greatest humanitarian tragedy of our times, but Plestia’s insights offer a glimpse into the kaleidoscope of stories that we don’t hear on the news: the gentle acts of quiet; necessary heroism; the everyday lives that were upended by terror; and the moments of unexpected tenderness and vulnerability that have emerged amid the chaos.”

While the stories in The Eyes of Gaza depict the horrors of what ordinary Palestinians have been going through, they also aim to be a beacon of hope, advocating for a better future for Gaza and the wider region.

Alaqad announced news of her book on Instagram with a sombre post as Israeli air strikes continue across southern Lebanon.

“Life is funny. Today, the Lebanese sky above me is in flames. Today is also the announcement day of my book Eyes of Gaza, which I started writing way back on October 7 2023 – or as I knew it, week 1,” she wrote to her 4.5 million followers.

“I thought I was documenting the greatest horrors I would ever feel. I felt that by the time I published this journal, maybe, just maybe, Gaza would finally be safe and the world would learn from what happened to us. That is not my feeling now.

“I do not feel that those weeks are behind us, in this close exile to the ruins of my homeland. I don’t feel that I am in week 50 either. I feel that I am in week 1.”