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UN PhotoGAZA / PALESTINIAN ARTISTS
STORY: GAZA / PALESTINIAN ARTISTS
TRT: 08:28
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 02 FEBRUARY 2026, GAZA STRIP
1. Various shots, a UNRWA school in central Gaza City, currently sheltering displaced Palestinian families
2. Various shots, the tent of artist Marah Khaled, who was displaced with her family from the town of Beit Hanoun to a tent set up in the courtyard of a UNRWA school in central Gaza City
3. Various shots, artist Marah Khaled sitting in front of one of the paintings she is working on
4. Various shots, Marah Khaled’s tent, which she has turned into an art gallery displaying all the artworks she has created over two consecutive years of war
5. Various shots, dozens of artworks by Marah Khaled, expressing different facets of Palestinian emotions experienced over two years of war
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Marah Khaled, Artist:
“Drawing has been my hobby since childhood, but during the war it developed further because the psychological pressure and fear were much greater. I had to release all the energy inside me through drawing. All my drawings and paintings are in black and white, reflecting the negative energy I carried within me. All my works speak about the war—about the people who were killed, about journalists, about energy, about moments I lived through during the war, as well as about hunger and famine.”
7. Various shots, artist Marah Khaled sitting in front of one of her paintings as she draws
8. Various shots, Marah Khaled sitting beside cooking pots burnt by fire, removing the accumulated soot from them.
9. Various shots, Marah Khaled scraping soot off the cooking pots to reuse it in creating her paintings.
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Marah Khaled, Artist:
“During many periods of the war, especially during the famine in the Gaza Strip, I used the soot accumulated on cooking pots to document my artwork, because at that time I could not obtain the ink needed for drawing. So I ground this soot from the cooking pots and used it to create paintings that express the feelings I had inside.”
11. Various shots, Marah Khaled scraping soot from cooking pots
12. Various shots, the burnt cooking pots used by Marah Khaled’s family inside their tent
13. Various shots, the workshop of visual artist Ahmad Mahna during his daily work inside it at the Bureij Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza
14. Various shots, visual artist Ahmad Mahna painting a work depicting a Palestinian woman and her children
15. Various shots, artist Ahmad Mahna using cardboard food aid boxes provided by the World Food Programme as an alternative to traditional canvases
16. Various shots, artist Ahmad Mahna explaining the details of the painting he is working on
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ahmad Mahna, Artist:
“Here is a woman fighting for survival, trying to preserve what remains of her family. We recall the words of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish: ‘On this land there is that which deserves life.’ In this painting, there will be a sun to suggest the presence of hope.”
17. Various shots, artist Ahmad Mahna cutting one of the cardboard food aid boxes from the World Food Programme in preparation for reusing it to create his artworks.
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ahmad Mahna, Artist:
“I had many cardboard aid boxes in the studio. During the war, the crossings were closed, suffering was immense, and goods were scarce. Anyone who received an aid box felt as if they had obtained something precious. Even though the boxes contained canned food with preservatives, we desperately needed them because, in reality, we had no food. Due to the shortage of tools and the lack of paper for drawing, I took one of the World Food Programme parcels, began cutting the cardboard, and drew on it to embody the suffering we are living through in Gaza.”
19. Various shots, artist Ahmad Mahna at work inside his studio in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza
20. Various shots, a group of artists painting murals on the walls of destroyed homes in the Al-Nasr neighborhood of Gaza City
21. Various shots, the phrase “Tomorrow will be better” being painted on the wall of a destroyed home in the Al-Nasr neighborhood of Gaza City
Amid displacement tents and the rubble of destroyed schools and homes, Palestinian artists in the Gaza Strip continue to produce their work using the most basic materials available, in an effort to document two years of war and the unprecedented psychological pressure and human suffering it has left behind.
At a school in central Gaza City—now converted into a shelter for displaced people—young artist Marah Khaled lives with her family after being forced to flee the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern part of the Strip. Inside her small tent, she has transformed the temporary living space into an art exhibition featuring dozens of paintings she has created over two continuous years of war.
Khaled said that drawing had been a childhood hobby, but during the war it became her primary means of coping with fear and psychological stress. “During the war, the pressure and fear were much greater, so I had to release all the energy inside me through drawing,” she explained, adding “Almost all of my paintings are in black and white, reflecting the negative energy I was carrying.”
She noted that her works document scenes and experiences she personally lived through—from killing, hunger, and famine to the targeting of journalists and the disintegration of daily life—adding that each painting tells “a moment I lived during the war.”
With art supplies in short supply, Marah resorted to using soot accumulated on burnt cooking pots inside the tent. She collects and grinds it to use as a substitute for ink.
Describing her process as she prepares the raw material, she said, “During many periods of the war, especially during the famine, I was unable to obtain the ink I needed for drawing, so I ground the soot collected on cooking pots and used it to create artworks that express the feelings I had inside.”
In the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, visual artist Ahmad Mahna works inside a modest workshop, using cardboard boxes from food aid distributed by the World Food Programme as a substitute for traditional canvases. One of his works depicts a Palestinian woman trying to protect her children amid harsh conditions.
Explaining the idea while working on a painting, Mahna said, “This is a woman fighting for survival and trying to preserve what remains of the family. Mahmoud Darwish’s line comes to mind: ‘On this land there is that which deserves life,’ which is why I place a sun in the painting to suggest the presence of hope.”
He added that the closure of crossings and the shortage of materials during the war pushed him to seek alternatives. “We had many cardboard aid boxes. With tools scarce and no paper available for drawing, I took one of the World Food Programme parcels, cut the cardboard, and began drawing the suffering we are living through in Gaza,” he said.
The artistic scene is not limited to tents and studios. Other artists have painted murals on the walls of destroyed homes in Gaza City neighborhoods, including Al-Nasr, where phrases carrying messages of hope—such as “Tomorrow will be better”—have been written, in an attempt to confront destruction with visual messages that reflect perseverance and a will to live.
Despite the harsh conditions, artists say their work has become more than artistic expression; it has turned into a living testimony to a historical moment and an effort to preserve human memory in a territory experiencing one of its most complex crises.
