There is no escape - Gaza Strip, October 7, 2023 – May 18, 2025
Saher Alghorra
Winner of the 2025 ICRC Humanitarian Visa d’or Award – International Committee of the Red Cross
The attacks on Gaza after October 7, 2023, are unprecedented. Trapped in the Gaza Strip, the captive population has nowhere to escape to.
Over the past 17 months, Palestinian civilians—families—have been displaced from north to south, then back again, enduring relentless shelling, airstrikes, ground operations, famine, disease, and the loss of loved ones. Their homes and cities have been razed to the ground.
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During two harsh, rainy winters, they lived in leaking tents. In the oppressive heat of summer, they suffocated in an environment with no shade. They have endured constant shortages of electricity, water, and food. Day and night, families have lived with the incessant, overwhelming roar of drones and airplanes, every second fearing that they could be the next to be hit. Hospitals have been destroyed one after another. Journalists who strived to report on these massacres have been targeted and killed.
The title of this photographic series is inspired by a line from Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish’s "Memory For Forgetfulness," published in 1982 during the siege on Beirut where he was displaced. The poem reflects on the devastation of war, loss, identity, and the quest for freedom. Four decades later, Darwish's words tragically remain as relevant as ever.
As a photojournalist still reporting from Gaza to this day, I will continue to document the ordeal, resilience, and strength of Palestinian families who have no means of escape—until, hopefully, this ends.
Saher Alghorra
