Gaza: a week in the life of five ordinary Palestinians

We follow five ordinary people – a 12-year-old boy, a professor, a pregnant woman, a skateboarder and a grandmother – through their days, with all of the difficulty and joy that they encounter. This is what a week in the life of Gaza looks like.

Alaa

Alaa Hessi is eight months pregnant, and lives in a tent pitched over the ruins of her house. It was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike that killed all three of her children. In one month, she will give birth to her fourth child.

Ramadan

At 12 years old, Ramadan Ghaban is supporting his family working long hours in a cafe on the beach. He dreams of becoming a lifeguard, and tries to find moments to play late in the evenings after his shift is over.

Mansoura

Mansoura Dayem is 76, and living in the back of a flat-bed truck after an Israeli airstrike destroyed her house. She cooks, cleans and tells her grandchildren stories to remind them of the home they left.

Mahmoud

Architecture lecturer Mahmoud Seydam watched Israel demolish the entire university where he once taught. Now living in a tent and powering his laptop off a broken solar panel, he tries to guide a generation of students through education.

Rajab

Rajab al Reefi runs a club teaching children skate tricks amid the rubble. But with the last skateboards falling apart, and no new boards getting in, he hunts through Gaza’s debris for spare parts.