GAZA: A STORY OF LOVE AND WAR
2026 EDITION
Having endured over 1000 days of siege and genocide, what do Gazans see and feel now in the deadly ‘ceasefire’ ?
In this new edition of the film Gaza journalist Sami Abu Salem narrates what he sees, explores his fears, and searches for hope beyond destruction.
First released in 2024, this unusually personal film about Gaza’s disaster brings the story up to date, as the UK government admits to all outraged at the plight of Palestine, “You were right”.
Two journalists meet to share stories over a Zoom link. One is Welsh and unable to get into Gaza. The other is Palestinian and unable to escape.
As they talk, an intimate history of the Palestinian Nakba is revealed, from the expulsions of 1948 to the lethal ‘ceasefire’ of 2026.
A generation ago, the journalists’ mothers escaped two different catastrophes — the Holocaust in 1939-45 and the violent expulsion of Palestinians in 1948. We learn of remarkable connections in their stories, leading to an unexpected question – Is coexistence possible? – and a surprising answer.
Days after this 2023 dialogue, Hamas breaks through the Gaza fence and Israeli complacency, in revenge for generations of oppression, to be countered as ever by overwhelming Israeli retaliation. Defenceless, Sami describes how he, his family and Gaza people struggle to survive, as the occupier denies water, food, power, electricity and medicine.
The film connects the great and the small, by showing what violating the UN Genocide Convention means to a people, a family, a mother.
How are your relations with the Arabs?
Strive to live in peace and friendship with the Arabs.
It is sure to be a very important matter!
Mike Joseph’s grandfather, writing in 1935
View the full production credits for GAZA: A Story of Love and War 2026 Edition
2026 dates
PENARTH, Wednesday October 28
Vale of Glamorgan
All Saints Lesser Hall
Victoria Square
Doors open 19:00, start 19:30
Free entry
OXFORD, Thursday October 29
Oxford Town Hall
St. Aldate’s
Doors 18:00, start 18:30
With guest speaker Avi Shlaim
Free entry, donations
FROME Friday October 30
Frome Town Hall
Christchurch Street West
Doors open 18:30, start 19:00
With guest speaker Anna Sabine MP
Tickets £10 https://astoryofloveandwar.eventbrite.co.uk
Pre-Release reactions to GAZA: A Story of Love and War
Gaza: A Story of Love and War Reviewed in The Guardian
“Made on an infinitesimal budget but with compassion, empathy and consideration, this documentary is the product of an encounter between two journalists…The conversation they did manage to record before all hell broke out is moving and thought-provoking. The two men emphasise how much they have in common as children of trauma, rather than what might divide them.”
Read the full review at The Guardian
Latest Posts about GAZA
Waiting for the End
The conflict which led to 15 months of war in Gaza did not start on 7th of October 2023, but over a century ago. And the ceasefire announced for the 19th of January 2025, whatever it brings, will not end the conflict, but open a new phase, perhaps burdened with even...
No bombs, no bodies
‘No bombs, no bodies’, wrote a viewer about my film, GAZA: A Story of Love and War, ‘and yet so powerful and moving’. Lacking the expected screenplay of horror that fills television and online news daily since October 2023, this film may at first seem little more than...
Gaza: What do we do?
This short sequel to GAZA: A Story of Love and War, records the audience discussion with Ceredigion MP, Ben Lake, after the autumn 2024 screening of the documentary in Cardigan. Ben Lake reveals that no subject concerns his constituents more urgently than Gaza....