Requiem For Gaza Review

 

Requiem For Gaza Review

Writer: Chris Hedges

Artist: Joe Sacco

Publisher: Fantagraphics

Book Description: Black-and-White, 160 Pages, 7.5” x 11.1”

Hardcover Price: $24.99 US

Kindle Price: $17.99 US

Release Date: October 6, 2026

ISBN: 9798875002724

 

Story

Chris Hedges lived in Gaza for 7 years. Before retelling the survivors' accounts, he recalls the places that were dear to him. He will never again worship in the Great Omari Mosque, Gaza's oldest mosque. Nor will he file reports from Gaza’s New York Times office or reside in the Marna Boarding House again. Instead, the streets and neighborhoods he knew have disappeared beneath rubble and unexploded ordnance that may take years to clear away.

 

In Requiem For Gaza, Chris Hedges doesn’t interview anyone from Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, or the Israeli government. Instead, he focuses on the people who lived in Gaza when war erupted. After a chapter covering the first day of the conflict, Hedges portrays the survivors' search for sanctuary. Facing danger on every side, people like Afnan Gatass, a teacher certified in the Montessori method, rally their families. Afnan’s children may have been careless with their toys and negligent in keeping their rooms in order. But when they sought refuge from the war-torn streets, it would be a long time until they could regain that sense of normality, let alone watch the latest episode of PAW Patrol.

 

While Chris Hedges rebukes most of his fellow international journalists, he praises the reporters in Gaza who struggled to get their reports out. Journalists like Sanaa Kamal, who saw the rockets fly toward Israel from her balcony, feared the consequences of Hamas' actions. These newsmakers worked in difficult conditions and often felt like targets themselves. But then, many of the places that the inhabitants believed would provide safety instead crumbled beneath barrages of high-caliber bullets, tank shells, or missiles. So, as people suffered and died from injuries, refugees in their diminishing country packed houses like sardines, stayed in tents, or slept amid debris in the streets.

 

Art

While Chris Hedges' prose reporting, appeals, and arguments dominate Requiem For Gaza, Joe Sacco opens each chapter with an illustration. He also portrays the plight of Osama Abdou and his family. In 40 pages of detailed art, the clinical psychologist struggles to make sense of his upside-down world as he leads his family on an arduous journey toward designated safe zones. As they trek through the apocalyptic landscape that their country has become, Osama and his family endure overcrowded housing and minimal resources. At times, their body language and expressions suggest they are nearing the breaking point. Still, Osama and his family help each other and other refugees.

 

Joe Sacco enhances Osama Abdou's journey with hatching, crosshatching, and stippling to increase the dehumanizing conditions they endured. The family carried their weaker members when they could. As people slung their belongings on their backs or rode atop packed cars, they also conducted hasty burials in the streets.

 

Black uppercase letters fill dialogue balloons as Osama Abdou and his family struggle to find any sanctuary in Gaza. Narrative boxes are often tilted to follow motion. Or the narrative may be split into long, ticker-tape-like boxes as each moment increases the dangers facing the brave family. Thanks to Fantagraphics for providing a physical review copy.

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

While Chris Hedges chronicles the accounts of people who abandoned their homeland, he also reveals the difficulties of starting over in a foreign land. As Chris covers the international response, he charts the difficulties of receiving aid in a country lacking a banking system or the safety net society should provide. His impassioned arguments remind us of the dehumanizing effects of war on the soul. As his anger spills across the pages, Chris points out how similar conflicts have robbed us of cultures and peoples who could have enriched the melting pot of Human society in Requiem For Gaza.

 

Rating 9/10

 

Requiem For Gaza is available at Amazon.

Or, you can purchase it directly from the Fantagraphics website.