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In Gaza City, we are saying goodbye

Forced expulsion is looming and we know this time we may never see our homes again. - Sara Awad, Palestinian writer based in Gaza

To those who still care, this may be the last letter I write from Gaza City.

We are expecting Israel to officially issue its “evacuation orders” any time now. My beloved city, Gaza, stands on the brink of a full military occupation by the Israeli army. Their plan is to force us all to leave our homes and move into tents in the southern part of the Strip. We do not know what will happen to those who resist. We may be living our last days in Gaza City.

Since the beginning of the war, we have heard that Israel wants to occupy our city and take it as a settlement area for its people. At first, we didn’t believe it; we thought this kind of news was psychological warfare. After all, we have had “evacuation orders” before and people were able to return, even if it was to the ruins of their homes.

On October 13, shortly after the genocide started, the Israeli army told everyone in northern Gaza, including Gaza City, to move south. The orders were accompanied by relentless bombardment. Hundreds would sometimes die in a day. Hundreds of thousands of people fled south for their lives.

We didn’t. My father refused to leave our home, so we all stayed. We lived in our home for months in unbearable pain and fear. We witnessed the destruction of our neighbourhood with our eyes.

Then the Israeli army cut off the north from the south. Aid could not reach the north. From January to April 2024, my family and I lived the most suffocating days of the war. We were starved; we spent our days searching for anything to ease our hunger. Sometimes, we were forced to eat animal feed.

In January this year, when a ceasefire took effect, people were allowed to go back to the north. It was an emotional moment that reflected just how much we, Palestinians, are attached to our land.

This time, the atmosphere feels different. It feels that the threat of permanent occupation, of permanent loss, is very real.

“In preparation for the transfer of civilians from the war zone to the south … a large number of tents and shelter equipment will be allowed to enter [Gaza]”, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on Facebook.

People across Gaza read this news with a heavy heart. There are many questions and few answers: Where will we flee? When will this start? Will anyone intervene and stop this catastrophe?

People are overwhelmed – emotionally, mentally, physically, financially; they cannot endure any more suffering.

Since my family and I heard this announcement, we have been looking at each other with confused, fearful eyes.

When I saw images on social media of tents and tarpaulins entering Gaza City, my heart broke into a million pieces. The thought of my future being stuffed into a tent terrified me. My dreams are big; how can I fit them into a small tent?

I told my father I don’t want to live in a tent. Tears were rolling down my cheeks. He looked at me with helplessness in his eyes and said, “We do not have another choice, the tent is becoming our new reality.”

We do not want to leave, but we feel we do not have a choice. We do not think we can endure the relentless bombardment and shelling once again. The Israelis will likely be even more brutal when they invade this time. It will not be punishment this time; it will be total erasure.

Feeling the end of their city is coming, people are spending what they fear may be their last days in it with their families, having their single meal for the day, together. They are walking around their neighbourhoods, taking pictures of themselves with the places tied to their childhood memories, capturing everything that might be erased.

I write these words, sitting in a shared workspace where many students and writers are trying to fight the fear of what is to come by studying and working. They are hanging on to their work routines, hoping for some normalcy amid the terrifying chaos.

People in Gaza love life, even when life means surviving by the bare minimum. Even in the darkest moments, we always find a way to have hope, joy, and happiness.

I want to have hope, but I am also terrified – not only of the bombs, of forced displacement, of tents and exile. I am terrified of being cut off from the world, of being silenced.

I feel like what Israel is preparing for us in the south is a concentration camp where we will be cut off from the world, our voices muffled, our existence erased.

I do not know how much longer my words will reach the outside world, so I want to take this opportunity to make an appeal.

Do not forget me, Sara Awad, a Palestinian student, whose biggest dream is to finish her degree in English literature and become a professional journalist.

Do not forget the people of Gaza and their 2 million stories of love, heartbreak and perseverance.

Do not forget my city, Gaza – an ancient metropolis, full of history and culture, full of love.

Do not forget how fiercely we resisted and held on to our homes and land, even when the world all but abandoned us

-- Sara Awad

Sara Awad is an English literature student, writer, and storyteller based in Gaza. Passionate about capturing human experiences and social issues, Sara uses her words to shed light on stories often unheard. Her work explores themes of resilience, identity, and hope amid war.

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Sally Rooney could be arrested under Terrorism Act after pledging royalties to Palestine Action

The Irish novelist Sally Rooney could be arrested under the Terrorism Act after saying she intends to use proceeds from her work to support Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK last month, a legal expert has warned. Meanwhile, No 10 said that supporting the group was an offence under the act, after Rooney had made her pledge. Royalties from Rooney’s books, including Normal People and Conversations with Friends, along with BBC adaptations of them, would be used to support Palestine Action, she wrote in the Irish Times over the weekend. The legal expert also said that the bestselling writer could face prosecution if she were to express her views at, for example, a UK book festival, underscoring the proscription’s “gross disproportionality”.

[...]

Asked what message No 10 would give to people considering donating money to Palestine Action, the spokesperson said: “Support for a proscribed organisation is an offence under the Terrorism Act and obviously the police will, as they have set out, implement the law as you’d expect.” More than 700 people have been arrested under the Terrorism Act in relation to the group since it was proscribed in early July, many of whom were detained at a peaceful protest on 9 August in Parliament Square, London.

[...]

The lawyer and writer Sadakat Kadri said: “Receiving money with the intention of using it to support terrorism is an offence under section 15 of the 2000 act. That means Rooney could be arrested without a warrant as a ‘terrorist’.” He added that “the absurdities don’t end there”, and said the decision of the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, to bracket Palestine Action with groups such as Islamic State meant the BBC would also be criminally liable if it continued to pay royalties to Rooney in view of her stated intentions. “Authoritarian governments routinely threaten writers and intimidate broadcasters, but I find it quite extraordinary that Labour under Keir Starmer has now chosen to go down the same path.”

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Academy Award Winners for Best Cinematography: 2001 — Peter Pau, HKSC 臥虎藏龍 / Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Directed by Ang Lee Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

"We make a lot of period action films in Hong Kong, and we generally use hard light and a full range of colors. We control them very carefully, often using extreme blacks and pure whites and mixing deep reds and blues with lots of fog and smoke effects. But that dynamic approach did not work for Crouching Tiger, because the storytelling approach was very dramatic; using those techniques would have overdramatized the film and taken the audience out of the story and away from the characters. Instead, we wanted a look that was realistic and comfortable, so the first thing I discussed with Ang was using a low-contrast visual approach with desaturated colors."— Peter Pau for The American Society of Cinematographers, January 2001

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"I'm sorry, my lady." Arya suddenly felt bad for her, and ashamed. "I'm sorry I tore the acorn dress too. It was pretty.” "Yes, child. And so are you. Be brave."

A Storm of Swords, Arya IV

arya stark acornhall doodle

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does anyone else see this as jon and (older) arya or am i actually losing my mind

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⋆₊˚ [ danyweek day 5: childhood ]

“when i was a little girl, i loved to play in the bazaar…though we seldom had enough coin to buy anything…well, except for honeyfingers.”

—commission done by @/yora_owo on twt

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Everyone needs a short friend

(via)

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So I actually don’t think that’s what he wants you to say

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Jon took a knee. The king frowned at him, and rattled the parchment angrily. "Rise. Tell me, who is Lyanna Mormont?"

"One of Lady Maege's daughters, Sire. The youngest. She was named for my lord father's sister."

— ADWD, Jon I

"The black brothers will accompany you as far as Castle Black," the king went on. "The ironmen are to remain here, supposedly to fight for us. Another gift from Tycho Nestoris. Just as well, they would only slow you down. Ironmen were made for ships, not horses. Lady Arya should have a female companion as well. Take Alysane Mormont."

— TWOW, Theon I

I'm sure Maege Mormont must have been a lady of companion or a close friend of Lyanna Stark. The idea of the Stark girls having a Mormont girl>>>

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The hovering dragons made her think of King Jon Stark and the revelation that stunned her to silence. He, a dragon himself, the son of her brother and the northern girl he carried off. Lyanna, she remembered. Lady Lyanna. The sister of one of the Usurper's dogs, a vicious part of her thought, but she had been quick to find the Starks were not as awful as Viserys told her they were. How could they be when her valiant, noble brother fell for one? When she herself could feel the familiar sense of want settling deep in her bones?

There was talk of the youngest Stark sister's resemblance to her.

Arya.

Was Lady Lyanna as skinny as her, as bold yet cunning? As pretty in breeches as well as in gowns? Her long face was the same as the king's, stoic and guarded, but Dany could see the fire churning in her storm-like gaze. The same danced in his.

Twinned fires that called to her own.

How her skin tingled when she could feel their stares on her. How easy it was to be lost in those mirrored smoke grey eyes of the so-called 'siblings.' Jon spoke in raw iron tones much like Rhaegar, but Arya's voice was like daggers underneath silk, sharp below the sweetness, with a jagged husk that warmed her.

You are your brother's sister in truth, Ser Jorah told her once, lifetimes ago, though this wasn't what he meant.

Yet it held oceans of fact all the same.

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BLACK SAILS

4x06 ● “XXXIV.”

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Bbc merlin is such a comedy. Arthur keeps telling Merlin they can’t be friends because they are prince and servant, while Merlin straight up tells Uther they have a special bond and Uther is glad

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Source

“Deadliest day in a week”

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Listen!

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Monch monch monch

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Instagram

I love them, your honor.

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Luciane Buchanan as Ka'ahumanu in Chief of War (2025)