Another year has passed, and life in Gaza is still trapped between Israel’s killing machine and the growing indifference of the world. It is another year added to our unique calendar of loss, destruction and death.

In March, I wrote about my fears that Israel might go even further in its genocidal drive than what it had already done. And it did. Israel went beyond even my darkest expectations, reaching an unimaginable level of evil. That evil marked the whole year for us in Gaza.

As I see many people posting recaps of their favourite 2025 moments, I thought I’d share my own version. Here’s what this year looked like for me.

It started with a 45-day ceasefire; the short respite from the bombs was not even enough for us to mentally process the 15 months of nonstop killing and destruction that preceded it.

In February, I met many of the Palestinian captives who were set free as part of the truce and listened to the horror stories they recounted about their time being forcibly disappeared by the Israeli army. Among then was my high school teacher, Antar al-Agha. When I first saw him, I could not believe it was him. He was so pale and gaunt that he couldn’t stretch his arm to shake my hand.

He told me about the long time he spent in what they called the “scabies room” in the Israeli detention centre – a room designated to be an incubator for scabies. “At one dawn, I was finally allowed to wash my hands, but it didn’t turn out to be a relief for me. Once the water touched my hand, the skin started to peel as if it were a hot boiled potato. The blood burst from all over my hands. I can still feel the pain,” he recounted.

In March, Israel resumed the genocide, killing more than 400 people in a single blow in the middle of that month. It blocked all crossings into the........

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