‘Damar tam’ is an Arabic expression for total destruction. It’s the term most often used by Gazan survivors when describing the state of the Palestinian enclave. With more than 71,000 people dead, 170,000 wounded, 80% of buildings destroyed, Gaza is a field of ruins and shattered lives. The scale of the catastrophe is such that comparisons with the Nakba of 1948 are apt: of what existed before 7 October 2023, almost nothing remains. This collection of articles bears witness to what has happened, gathering facts so that nothing is forgotten, testifying to the scale of the destruction and resisting through remembrance while we await the moment when those responsible for and complicit in this genocide against a defenceless population are brought before international justice.

Gaza has been destroyed, but what about Israel? What will be the long-term consequences of this surge of violence against Gazans? Israeli society, already divided, will not be able to avoid an ethical and political reckoning in the face of a tragedy it has not just tolerated but encouraged. Unless of course its leaders choose to escalate the situation by dragging their country into endless wars.

Since 2023, the so-called international community has been reluctant to influence the course of events — and incapable of doing so — enabling Israel to wage its campaign of mass destruction. Apart from the initiatives from a few, rare countries and civil society, Gaza has been abandoned to its fate, even by the Arab world, whose leading figures consider normalisation with Israel more important and fear reprisals from the US, an unwavering supporter of Tel Aviv in this conflict.