Hi I'm Shadi Ismail

About me

I was born in the Al Maghazi refugee camp in Deir Al Balah, Gaza Strip. The Al Maghazi refugee camp was built in 1949, after the 1948 Palestinian Nakba when 700,000 families were forcibly displaced from their towns and cities now occupied by Israel.

Like all refugee camps, it depends on humanitarian aid to survive. I was born then as the son of the children of the Palestinian Nakba. My blood is a witness of displacements, massacres, hunger, losses. But also of hope and deep belief in the power of the seed.

That's why I decided to study first aid. Because the willingness to help is seed. Likewise, my path as a photographer tries to make visible and be the voice of those who still scream under the rubble of Gaza.

In 2020 I traveled to Istanbul. I returned to Gaza 48 hours before October 2023 to visit my parents and siblings. My son Karam grew up in his mother's womb in Turkey. From October 2023 until today I am in Gaza, surviving the genocide and wishing that the seed will be the fruit to be able to hug for the first time my son Karam, born in December 2023 in Turkey.

That you are reading these lines, is another seed: that of the hope of living again, of hugging my son, of growing professionally and of contributing my gaze in the construction of a world in which the screams of the hundreds of children under the rubble of Gaza, finally find peace and rest, thanks to others being able to listen to their stories, observe the photographs, listen to our voices. Spreading this page is a way to help others know my voice.

You can also make a solidarity contribution to any of the means of payment and in reciprocity receive a photograph from me. Leave us your email if you want to contribute and receive an image-witness in gratitude.

Thank you for being here.
A hug. Shadi Ismail
Gaza, 2026