Pizza Before We Die: An Eyewitness Account in Gaza

A 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 Dieis 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 ofPizza Before We Diewill be donated to Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières.

Hassan Kanafani(he/him) is from Gaza. He is a graduate from the Faculty of Engineering at Al-Azhar University in Gaza.

Yasuko Thanh(she/her) is a writer and a creative writing instructor at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC. Her first novel,Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains(Penguin Canada), a tale of rebellion in French Indochina, won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize in 2016. Her bestselling memoir,Mistakes to Run With(Penguin Canada), which reflected on her journey from sex worker to successful writer, was a finalist for the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes. Her most recent novel,To the Bridge(Hamish Hamilton), explored gaps in mental health care preventing suicide. Her next novel,The Falling Maria, is forthcoming in 2027.

"This astonishing account demands readers look directly at the horrors in Gaza without blinking."
—Publishers Weekly(starred review)

"Pizza Before We Dieis a raw work of witness from the ground level of a genocide. Hassan Kanafani writes in the most unvarnished and yet precise way about the reality of what it means to have one's home reduced to rubble. The smallest, most intricate detail of daily survival bleeds into the most overarching view of atrocity. In its deep dignity and commitment to life, this collection of snapshots is both intimate and powerful."
—Omar El Akkad, author ofOne Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

"InPizza Before We Die, Hassan Kanafani writes the stories of his people under occupation and genocide from a seaside tent community in Gaza while the world seems to have turned away. With lyrical clarity, the author shifts between intimat