Syrian writer Samar Yazbek has released a new book titled Your Presence is a Danger to Your Life: Voices from Gaza, a collection of testimonies from 26 survivors of the Gaza conflict. The book aims to ensure the world does not forget the atrocities faced by Palestinians, as global attention shifts to other conflicts.
Book Features Survivor Stories
Yazbek selected stories from hundreds of survivors, all unarmed civilians, covering events from October 7, 2023, and the subsequent genocide. The narratives include mothers, doctors, teenagers, and pensioners. “I want the voices of the survivors and victims to be heard — truly heard,” Yazbek told The Mirror. “I want the world to know their stories: who these people were, what they lost, the homes they were driven from, the family members they buried, the parts of themselves they will never get back.”
The book's title quotes a flyer dropped by the IDF in Gaza, warning civilians minutes before a bomb landed. In the introduction, Yazbek describes the people of Gaza as having “passed through hell and returned.”
Yazbek's Background and Motivation
Yazbek, who participated in the 2011 uprising against the Assad regime and was forced into exile, has a history of documenting conflict zones. In 2024, the Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that at least 202,000 civilians were killed by Bashar Assad's regime forces. While in Doha, Qatar, in 2024, Yazbek encountered around 2,500 survivors from Gaza, many with amputations and critical health conditions. “This horror was unbearable… I felt as though I were standing on the set of a science fiction horror film,” she said. “It felt as though the entire world had collapsed into catastrophe, as though all of humanity had been wiped away before my eyes. We have no right to turn away from the pain of others.”
Haunting Testimonies
One testimony is from 13-year-old Abdullah, who told Yazbek he “was born into war and grew up under siege. He said he was born a man.” Abdullah recounted a bombing on December 4, 2023, that hit a bus he and his family were on. “It wasn't just one bomb that landed on us, but several. Everyone burned, my uncles, my mother, my whole family... I thought it was a nightmare and I wanted to wake up, but it wasn't.” Four family members died, including his mother and sister. Afterwards, he comforted his six-year-old brother by saying “it's just a game.”
Gender-Based Violence
Women in Gaza also shared experiences of gendered suffering. Yazbek noted the complete absence of sanitary products, leading to physical and psychological distress. Nada Eisa Ayyaash testified that a bomb attack caused her periods to stop. She experienced persistent vaginal bleeding, and doctors could not determine the cause. “The poisons and chemicals dropped onto us were causing strange symptoms. It wasn't just blood, I would see fleshy, bloody lumps coming out of me,” her testimony reads. Yazbek verified that many other women, including girls aged six to seventeen, had similar experiences. In 2025, a United Nations report concluded that sexual and gender-based violence is being used as a strategy of war by Israel to dominate and destroy the Palestinian people.
Yazbek explained the difficulty for Gazan women in speaking out: “When a woman speaks out about sexual abuse, her community rarely views her as a victim. Instead, she is seen as guilty — as someone complicit in what was done to her. This perception brings deep shame upon her. Because women fear this social stigma, their silence becomes an act of self-protection.”
Global Attention Waning
Yazbek expressed concern that the killing in Gaza has been overshadowed by other conflicts. “The news of other wars between Iran, America and Israel has overridden the Gazan news. Each new war arrives to eclipse the last one,” she said. Your Presence is a Danger to Your Life: Voices from Gaza is now available.
