Gaza Girl
An illustrated book for all ages
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Gaza Girl is the result of an eighteen-month collaboration between Ilura Press and Palestinian artist Safaa Odah. Gaza Girl is an illustrated story for all ages, suitable for children, and has indeed been shared with many children. Created under extreme adversity, it reaches from beneath the rubble of pain and suffering to convey hope, compassion, and love.
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Background"I was so happy to receive your message. It filled me with your warmth and understanding. I would be delighted to work on the book." Safaa Odah (October 2024, translated from Arabic)
Gaza Girl was adapted from an unpublished manuscript, developed to reflect the life of a child in a refugee camp – a child who refuses to abandon love and hope when everything else has been taken away or destroyed. As the book neared completion, the decision to remove the text marked a pivotal moment. The images could now speak for themselves. Safaa had brought to life a story and a character that was universally accessible and endearing. It had become a story that was fully inclusive, a story without borders. The JourneyThe friendship, the trust, the challenges - waiting anxiously for images to arrive. It was never known where Safaa was at any time, only that her life was in constant danger. At times her art and supplies were lost or destroyed. At times she was forced to draw on tent walls. At the worst of times, weeks would go by without contact, and at the most extreme of times Safaa lost nine family members and friends during a particularly hostile air-strike. She apologised for not being able to draw.
It was Safaa’s resilience and determination, her need to keep breathing life into her own soul through her art, that carried the project to its completion. |
Benefits and OutcomesProfit from sales of Ilura Press titles contributes to the ongoing charitable and socially responsible projects that Ilura Press is involved in. In this instance, a large percentage of the profit from the sales of Gaza Girl will directly support Safaa Odah and her creative endeavours, as well as assisting Safaa to set up a community space in Palestine for people of all ages to come together to interact, to create, and to find comfort and emotional expression through art.
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Support the Project
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By ordering Gaza Girl, you are helping Ilura Press raise funds for the Gaza Girl project.
If you wish to support the project further, you can add an extra donation to your order.
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'Gaza: "Sickening normalisation" of suffering, amid attacks on people and aid convoys' | UN News (1)
'"Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees globally." "[And] they're undergoing surgery without anaesthesia."'
'The levels of death and destruction in Gaza are without parallel in recent times.' | UN Secretary-General António Guterres (2)
'. . . attacks are part of an endless catalogue of horrors'.
'The world is experiencing a surge in violence not seen since the post-World War II era.' | Peace Research Institute Oslo (3)
'. . . the global security landscape is not improving, it’s fracturing.'
'"Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees globally." "[And] they're undergoing surgery without anaesthesia."'
'The levels of death and destruction in Gaza are without parallel in recent times.' | UN Secretary-General António Guterres (2)
'. . . attacks are part of an endless catalogue of horrors'.
'The world is experiencing a surge in violence not seen since the post-World War II era.' | Peace Research Institute Oslo (3)
'. . . the global security landscape is not improving, it’s fracturing.'
(1) United Nations <https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/12/1158176>
(2) United Nations <https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165734>
(3) Peace Research Institute Oslo <https://www.prio.org/news/3616>
(2) United Nations <https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165734>
(3) Peace Research Institute Oslo <https://www.prio.org/news/3616>
