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Pizza Before We Die: An Eyewitness Account in Gaza
Not yet published
Expected 7 Apr 26A heart-wrenching personal account of the ongoing devastation in Gaza by an ordinary citizen who bears witness to the undoing of his community and homeland
The human tragedy unfolding in Gaza has been made all the more tragic by the widespread denial and apathy expressed by much of the rest of the world. Here is an urgent first-hand account of life and death in Gaza, written not by a war correspondent, but an ordinary citizen whose life was upended when the genocide began.
In the midst of the chaos, Hassan began posting about his daily experiences on Reddit. Three activists, moved by his words, started collecting his posts without a clear plan—only the conviction that his story needed to be seen and the hope that somehow, it might help raise funds for him. By chance, those posts found their way to award-winning author Yasuko Thanh, who helped Hassan frame them for a book.
Hassan's missives are a vivid, heartbreaking account of war and its toll—on families, on children, on innocent civilians. These are stories of hunger, survival, and death. These are stories that demand to be heard. And yet, stories like these are not being told: Mainstream media has largely remained silent. Foreign journalists are barred from Gaza. Local journalists are being killed. In this vacuum, Hassan's voice breaks through out of the darkness and into the light.
Pizza Before We Die is literary journalism at its rawest and most urgent—clear eyed, unflinching, and deeply humane. Hassan captures the unspeakable horror of the tragedy in Gaza with restraint and precision, never sensationalizing, always bearing witness. It is a work of raw power and emotion and a reminder that in the midst of chaos and tragedy, our shared humanity remains intact.
In addition to editing this book, Yasuko Thanh has written a foreword that provides context for Hassan's powerful story.
A portion of proceeds from the sale of Pizza Before We Die will be donated to Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières.
The human tragedy unfolding in Gaza has been made all the more tragic by the widespread denial and apathy expressed by much of the rest of the world. Here is an urgent first-hand account of life and death in Gaza, written not by a war correspondent, but an ordinary citizen whose life was upended when the genocide began.
In the midst of the chaos, Hassan began posting about his daily experiences on Reddit. Three activists, moved by his words, started collecting his posts without a clear plan—only the conviction that his story needed to be seen and the hope that somehow, it might help raise funds for him. By chance, those posts found their way to award-winning author Yasuko Thanh, who helped Hassan frame them for a book.
Hassan's missives are a vivid, heartbreaking account of war and its toll—on families, on children, on innocent civilians. These are stories of hunger, survival, and death. These are stories that demand to be heard. And yet, stories like these are not being told: Mainstream media has largely remained silent. Foreign journalists are barred from Gaza. Local journalists are being killed. In this vacuum, Hassan's voice breaks through out of the darkness and into the light.
Pizza Before We Die is literary journalism at its rawest and most urgent—clear eyed, unflinching, and deeply humane. Hassan captures the unspeakable horror of the tragedy in Gaza with restraint and precision, never sensationalizing, always bearing witness. It is a work of raw power and emotion and a reminder that in the midst of chaos and tragedy, our shared humanity remains intact.
In addition to editing this book, Yasuko Thanh has written a foreword that provides context for Hassan's powerful story.
A portion of proceeds from the sale of Pizza Before We Die will be donated to Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières.
- GenresNonfiction
144 pages, Paperback
Expected publication April 7, 2026
138 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Succinct, straightforward, and poignant, this memoir provides a great starting point for readers who want to understand what life is like in Gaza during the genocide.
I admire the author's candid and earnest voice. He includes cold hard facts such as the exorbitant prices for food and resources, such as cooking gas, flour, meat. He talks about paying rent (during a genocide!) for an apartment that provides the bare minimum as a shelter. No electricity. No running water. And certainly no creature comforts.
Ramadan in Gaza is both a logistical and spiritual challenge. You need fuel to cook your food, so you burn anything available. Including plastic. Carcinogens, starvation, and death by Israeli airstrike are an everyday reality. Safety is nonexistent.
I have been following the situation in Gaza since October 7th, and I'll admit, nothing here is new to me. I've never seen so many dead bodies, dying children, beheaded babies all in HD or 4K. I try to help a family in Gaza with my meager donations and every time I see the father's face, it's like he's aged a decade. He mentions the same problems that the author faces when it comes to food, shelter, and safety. It's like this memoir is a universal experience in Gaza.
So if you only read one memoir about this genocide, read this book. If you know someone who wants to learn about the realities of life in Gaza, definitely recommend this memoir to them.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Thank you to Arsenal Pulp Press and Edelweiss+ for this arc.
I admire the author's candid and earnest voice. He includes cold hard facts such as the exorbitant prices for food and resources, such as cooking gas, flour, meat. He talks about paying rent (during a genocide!) for an apartment that provides the bare minimum as a shelter. No electricity. No running water. And certainly no creature comforts.
Ramadan in Gaza is both a logistical and spiritual challenge. You need fuel to cook your food, so you burn anything available. Including plastic. Carcinogens, starvation, and death by Israeli airstrike are an everyday reality. Safety is nonexistent.
I have been following the situation in Gaza since October 7th, and I'll admit, nothing here is new to me. I've never seen so many dead bodies, dying children, beheaded babies all in HD or 4K. I try to help a family in Gaza with my meager donations and every time I see the father's face, it's like he's aged a decade. He mentions the same problems that the author faces when it comes to food, shelter, and safety. It's like this memoir is a universal experience in Gaza.
So if you only read one memoir about this genocide, read this book. If you know someone who wants to learn about the realities of life in Gaza, definitely recommend this memoir to them.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Thank you to Arsenal Pulp Press and Edelweiss+ for this arc.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
we are, all of us, complicit in the world we currently allow to Be.
this should. not. be. we are all accountable for this wretched reality.
this should. not. be. we are all accountable for this wretched reality.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Like Omar El Akkad's One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, Pizza Before We Die is an IMPORTANT read. Author Hassan Kanafani (pseudonym) is an Engineering graduate at Al-Azhar University in Gaza. Not a journalist, he courageously posts to Reddit, when he is able to access the internet, both the micro and macro view of what he has experienced and witnessed over the past 600+ days. It's raw and terrifying and filled with the worst and best of humanity.
"This war has reached a stage where injustice is openly displayed, our sovereignty, it has been stolen, and every human right we once had is being stripped away. They are killing us - not only with bombs and bullets, but with hunger, with imprisonment, and with the relentless, brutal violation of our dignity."
Author Yasuko Thanh and Arsenal Pulp Press, both from BC, have worked with Kanafani to amplify his posts to a wider audience.
"This war has reached a stage where injustice is openly displayed, our sovereignty, it has been stolen, and every human right we once had is being stripped away. They are killing us - not only with bombs and bullets, but with hunger, with imprisonment, and with the relentless, brutal violation of our dignity."
Author Yasuko Thanh and Arsenal Pulp Press, both from BC, have worked with Kanafani to amplify his posts to a wider audience.
Review of advance copy received from Indie Reviewers
Incredible, brave account of life in Gaza during the genocide. Hassan Kanafani is a talented writer with a harrowing, eye-opening story. He captures not only his own perspective of the destruction of his home, but also so many glimpses into others' lives, fears, hopes, pains.
The foreword by Yasuko Thanh is excellent as well, it frames this narrative clearly and empathetically.
I hope one day Hassan Kanafani's story can be published under his real name (instead of this pseudonym) in a free, peaceful Palestine. 🇵🇸
content warnings:
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Grief
The foreword by Yasuko Thanh is excellent as well, it frames this narrative clearly and empathetically.
I hope one day Hassan Kanafani's story can be published under his real name (instead of this pseudonym) in a free, peaceful Palestine. 🇵🇸
content warnings:
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Grief
December 27, 2025
if you read any book on gaza and the genocide, let it be this. there is no excuse to not read this, it is short and concise, written beautifully and not about the history which I know some will use an excuse not to read. it is about right now, reality, the horror and terror, things that you need to know and will not be told. Kanafani is a beautiful writer, but first and foremost a human. I don't believe in god, but I pray for him and the whole of Gaza.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Pizza Before We Die – For What?
How did the book make me feel/think?
Not a single word of this is political. This is an attempt to find humanity in the sickness of our species.
What is the killing for?
What is the end goal of our endless conflicts? Ending us?
Our leaders position themselves as the ones who carry difficult decisions, but I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t think anyone wants to kill me. We all want the same things: love, warmth, fleeting moments of happiness, and full bellies.
Instead, we are handed destruction—where a humane ending becomes a bomb strike instead of freezing or starvation.
My soul feels torn in two. A man in Gaza must prove he is worthy of pity to receive aid for his family. When I turned 65, I had to prove I wasn’t trying to outlive my years to receive a few hundred dollars—to prove I was worthy of dignity.
These are not the same. Not even close. But something in that proving feels broken.
Each day, I wake up strange. I wake up scared. I wonder if anything will change. A friend once said, “At least they are not bombing Burnaby Street.” We are far removed from the horror. Our lives are blessed. They are coming to clean my dryer vents this week.
I walk past a playground in Vancouver. Empty ball diamonds. Children inside, on their phones.
Pause.
Now imagine children playing in fresh bomb craters.
I have no answers. Only a deep sadness and a need to bear witness—to look, even when it would be easier not to.
It’s 2026, and we are still killing each other.
For what?
Thank you to the author for the bravery of these words—offering light from within one of humanity’s darkest failures.
There is no place for silence.
These words are not political.
They are human.
WRITTEN 19 March 2026
5 stars = exceptional, transformative, enduring.
How did the book make me feel/think?
Not a single word of this is political. This is an attempt to find humanity in the sickness of our species.
What is the killing for?
What is the end goal of our endless conflicts? Ending us?
Our leaders position themselves as the ones who carry difficult decisions, but I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t think anyone wants to kill me. We all want the same things: love, warmth, fleeting moments of happiness, and full bellies.
Instead, we are handed destruction—where a humane ending becomes a bomb strike instead of freezing or starvation.
My soul feels torn in two. A man in Gaza must prove he is worthy of pity to receive aid for his family. When I turned 65, I had to prove I wasn’t trying to outlive my years to receive a few hundred dollars—to prove I was worthy of dignity.
These are not the same. Not even close. But something in that proving feels broken.
Each day, I wake up strange. I wake up scared. I wonder if anything will change. A friend once said, “At least they are not bombing Burnaby Street.” We are far removed from the horror. Our lives are blessed. They are coming to clean my dryer vents this week.
I walk past a playground in Vancouver. Empty ball diamonds. Children inside, on their phones.
Pause.
Now imagine children playing in fresh bomb craters.
I have no answers. Only a deep sadness and a need to bear witness—to look, even when it would be easier not to.
It’s 2026, and we are still killing each other.
For what?
Thank you to the author for the bravery of these words—offering light from within one of humanity’s darkest failures.
There is no place for silence.
These words are not political.
They are human.
WRITTEN 19 March 2026
5 stars = exceptional, transformative, enduring.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
"Pizza Before We Die" is a compilation of Hassan Kanafani's writings on the daily struggles a Palestinian has to endure as Isnotreal continues its genocidal tactics for 78 years and counting. As an aside: The author's name has been changed to preserve anonymity lest he be targeted for his truthful writing; a testament to Isnotreal's targeted killing of reporters, not to mention civilians.
I don't think I need to tell you how affecting the writing is (enough to catapult this into a 5-star read), nor is it my place to wax poetics about the bravery of the Palestinians. I'll let the excerpts from the book speak for themselves.
I do want to highlight this: If you think the liberation of Palestine does not concern you, think again. Countless authors and writers have repeated the claims that Palestine is an open-air laboratory where Isnotreal, with the complicity of MANY governments (Western & non-Western, first-world and third-world countries), practices and refines its genocidal tactics. They even spread their tactics to subdue and repress other communities and countries (see: Congo, the Uyghur, Myanmar, the US). When the governments see that the majority continues to be calm & complacent with the status quo, thinking "oh, that won't happen to us, *we're* legal residents, we didn't do anything wrong, we have nothing to worry about", they continue to adjust their strategies and refine them further.
Guess what happens when their laboratory experiment is ready to be expanded to the outside world?
If you think the liberation of all of the repressed communities has nothing to do with you--think again.
Thank you to the publisher for the e-ARC copy in exchange for an honest review! The book will be released on 7 April 2026, and a portion of the proceeds will be going to Doctors Without Borders Canada.
I don't think I need to tell you how affecting the writing is (enough to catapult this into a 5-star read), nor is it my place to wax poetics about the bravery of the Palestinians. I'll let the excerpts from the book speak for themselves.
I do want to highlight this: If you think the liberation of Palestine does not concern you, think again. Countless authors and writers have repeated the claims that Palestine is an open-air laboratory where Isnotreal, with the complicity of MANY governments (Western & non-Western, first-world and third-world countries), practices and refines its genocidal tactics. They even spread their tactics to subdue and repress other communities and countries (see: Congo, the Uyghur, Myanmar, the US). When the governments see that the majority continues to be calm & complacent with the status quo, thinking "oh, that won't happen to us, *we're* legal residents, we didn't do anything wrong, we have nothing to worry about", they continue to adjust their strategies and refine them further.
Guess what happens when their laboratory experiment is ready to be expanded to the outside world?
If you think the liberation of all of the repressed communities has nothing to do with you--think again.
Thank you to the publisher for the e-ARC copy in exchange for an honest review! The book will be released on 7 April 2026, and a portion of the proceeds will be going to Doctors Without Borders Canada.
Review of advance copy
The true terror in existence is not the fear of death, but the fear of life. It is the fear of waking up every day to face the same struggles, the same disappointments, the same pain. It is the fear that nothing will ever change and that we are trapped in a cycle of inevitable suffering. Within the fear arises a desire, a longing for something, anything, to break the monotony and give meaning to endless repetition of days.
“Instead of dressing him in Eid clothes, we dressed him in a shroud”
“Instead of dressing him in Eid clothes, we dressed him in a shroud”
Review of advance copy received from Publishers Weekly
A powerful, remarkably brave account of life in Gaza over the past two years. These are real lived experiences in Gaza that the Israeli government is fighting to keep us from seeing: children dying from hunger, entire families living in a single small tent, burning scraps of clothing to cook what meager food can be found, constant fear. I'm begging you to read this book. Kanafani risked everything to write it.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Such an important book.
March 29, 2026
A glaringly honest take on the catastrophic conditions of Gaza and the experience of starvation, survival, grief, and genocide.
April 1, 2026
4.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews