BEYOND MY EVACUATION FROM GAZA TO ITALY

SEVEN MONTHS OF INCOMPLETE RELIEF BLENDED WITH ‘SURVIVOR’S GUILT’

Fanrivista is honored to publish the testimony of a genocide survivor, although she explains in this article that there are hurdles incredibly hard to overcome, even when you reach physical safety.

Sara Awad is a Palestinian writer who has been living and studying in Italy for 7 months. Her work has been published on several news outlets: ‘Kritica’, ‘Il Manifesto’, ‘Il Domani’, ‘Drop Site News’, ‘Truthout’, ‘We Are Not Numbers’, ‘The Intercept’, ‘The Independent’, ‘Al Jazeera English’, ‘Middle East Eye’, ‘TRT World’,‘PRISM’, and ‘El Salto’. Depicting human experiences and amplifying underreported stories, her work is centered on social issues, resilience, identity, and hope amid the ongoing genocidal war and occupation in her homeland.

I thought building a new life away from home would feel like a fresh start, but I didn’t realise the weight of carrying two lives at once—one of them scarred by war.

At night, in the middle of winter, on 15 December 2025, I began a new chapter of my life. At 22, I left everything I knew behind and chose to start over—alone.

My age is more than a number. I grew up with six wars shaping my life. The latest one is still continuing in my home, even though, for me, it ended the moment I left. I survived by leaving, while my family remained behind. That is the part I struggle to live with—the feeling that I escaped while the people I love are still trapped in the war. Survivor’s guilt follows me every day.

KHALED’S ODYSSEY, A GAZA GENOCIDE TESTIMONY

A ‘HUMANITY VIDEO-CALL’ WITH KHALED FROM GAZA

IS HE LEGIT?

Fanrivista spoke with Khaled Adnan Alzaq, a young man from Gaza studying computer engineering who was forced by the lack of any income to use social media in order to raise some funds for his family, starting with diapers for his little brother.

Before the genocidal campaign, when life in Gaza was busy and “generally normal”, despite the occupation, he considered social networks mainly as a “distraction”. Instagram was also the way we got to know him.

At first we were suspicious. We were asking ourselves: “is this profile real, or is this the umpteenth scammer trying to further profit from the blood of Palestinians, pretending to be one of them?”. After some research, which is better explained in the full interview with him that you can find in the video, we realized that he was really from Gaza, and he had a story to tell, a terrible one, together with a glimpse of hope: us, ‘Westerners’ whom Khaled is grateful to for opposing governments and media complicit in the most recent genocide in history, the first one to be live-streamed. He told us: “You are our only weapon because the resistance is not effective at the moment and we have no tool to put pressure on Israel. (...) There is only you, only you!”.

STAND WITH PALESTINE IF YOU CARE ABOUT HUMANITY

TAREK FROM GAZA TO ITALY

"100 Harbors – 100 Cities" is an initiative of Freedom Flotilla Italia. Since it is not possible to reach Gaza because of the illegal Israeli blockade, the idea of the campaign is to do the opposite, bringing Gaza into different Italian cities through the Flotilla.

On 27 May 2026 the boat named after Ghassan Kanafani arrived in Naples. There we met with Tarek AlFarra, a student from Khan Yunis and survivor of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. He arrived in Italy six months ago, after completing a bachelor’s degree in English language in the midst of the war. During the genocide he taught English to children in the Strip, allowing them not only to further—or even start—their education, in one of the most highly educated areas in West Asia, but also providing them a way to escape from the harshest reality. Building the schools upon the rubble of the destroyed city, with those children hungry to study also because at home they had to do their parents’ jobs, is one of Tarek’s dearest memories.

‘Gaza was like a five-star prison’ before being subjected to the fury of the peak of the incremental genocide, starting in 1948: ‘we had 8 hours of electricity, universities, schools, hospitals... But at the same time everything was limited: all the necessities, food, supplies, everything was controlled by the occupation. At any time you could find the borders closed and yourself trapped. We were living in instability: you could wake up in the morning to find your neighborhood bombed for no reason’.

Meet the Israeli "refuseniks" jailed for not serving the I.O.F (IDF)

Ella Keidar Greenberg and Iddo Elam of Mesarvot are two young Israeli "refuseniks", conscientious objectors who refused to serve in the Israeli military, and went to jail for that. Refusing to serve in an army historically involved in an illegal occupation, which is committing genocide, should be the most obvious choice. However, people in Israel who do not serve in the military are usually considered outcasts, or traitors when they refuse. 

We met them a few months ago in Naples.

OMAR BARGHOUTI: UNITE ON BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

INTERVIEW WITH THE BDS CO-FOUNDER

[    Articolo in italiano a questo link]

‘There should be unity on basic human rights and international law’ despite political and ideological differences, and everyone must do their part ‘in their sphere of relative influence’ to stop the genocide and the apartheid regime in Palestine: these are the concepts etched in our conscience after we interviewed Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), a non-violent resistance movement born in 2005 in Palestine, inspired by the struggle against South African apartheid. Its goal is ending military, economic and cultural ties with institutions and companies involved in the violations of Palestinian human rights.

Basel Adra Of "No Other Land": Fighting Is Not An Option

LA VERSIONE IN ITALIANO SI TROVA QUI/HERE THE ITALIAN VERSION OF THIS POST

Palestine is asking for diplomatic weapons, not like Ukraine, and “if half of the sanctions put on Putin would be put on Israel the thing can be solved”. Keep on fighting for Palestine, although the efforts do not meet enough results, “it is not an option”, but a duty. These are some of the messages launched by Basel Adra, co-author of the Oscar winning documentary “No Other Land”, when he came to Naples (Italy) the 16 of June 2025.

On our Youtube Channel you will find the full speech he gave.

Below there are some of the questions we would have liked to ask Basel directly, and that we hope might find an answer in the future. We also hope they can contribute to a debate about the documentary and Palestine.

Let's Talk About 'Not All Men'

• 'Not all men' — a statement rife with misogyny — has been popularized by young men on social media in order to defend the public image of men in general. 

•  This piece reflects upon how normalized gender-based violence and oppression have become in today’s time. 

READ THE ARTICLE IN ITALIAN HERE / QUI LA TRADUZIONE IN ITALIANO DELL'ARTICOLO

Image of a girl holding a flag at the annual Women’s March held in 2019 in Pakistan. The flag reads: <<Women’s March 2019. We women>>. Credit: Beenish Sarfaraz

Patriarchy is a death sentence for women all over the world. 

In Naples, Italy, 14-year-old Martina Carbonaro was recently found stoned to death by her ex-boyfriend. In 2006, 20-year-old Pakistani woman, Hina Saleem, was murdered by her father in a horrifying 'honour killing' in Brescia, Italy. This case sparked a nationwide debate about Italy’s own history and laws regarding honour killings. In Pakistan, such brutal cases of violence are so common that they don’t even make the news. 

This thinkpiece—penned by Pakistani writer, Sana Siddiqui, currently living in Naples—discusses the everyday cruelty that women face due to the patriarchal customs embedded in our societies.

Speaking out in this society is almost a rebellion in itself—so I want to speak out. Because there really isn't much that a small, young woman can do to bring change in her country.

 

Living in one of the most unsafe-for-women countries in the world sucks. Because every day we hear terrible news about someone or the other, a woman or a child, being horrifically abused, harassed, or assaulted—if not worse. We live in this terror constantly. You'll see people share posts of such occurrences with the captions, "This could have been us." But it is. It is us. It is our friends, our mothers, our sisters, our aunts. All of us have a story. Some just don't live to tell it.