The Unraveling
The mathematics of human displacement are staggering: 1.9 million people, representing 90% of Gaza's population, forced from their homes in a matter of months. But statistics cannot capture the texture of a child's drawing still visible on a classroom wall where a family now sleeps, or the way a grandmother's weathered hands cradle young faces during air raids. This is the story behind the numbers—the unraveling of ordinary life and the extraordinary resilience that emerges from its ruins.
Gaza's 2024 humanitarian crisis represents one of the most severe civilian emergencies in modern history. The continuation of the Israel-Hamas conflict has systematically dismantled the infrastructure of daily life: hospitals operate in corridors lit by phone flashlights, schools become dormitories for displaced families, and water queues form at dawn around the few functioning sources. Yet within this destruction, new forms of community solidarity emerge—teachers conducting lessons by candlelight, bakers working through the night to feed displaced neighbors, families sharing scarce resources with quiet dignity.
My access to this story comes through family connections and fifteen years of documenting Middle Eastern conflicts, but more importantly, through trust built over time with Palestinian communities. As someone who carries both Palestinian heritage and American press credentials, I've been able to witness intimate moments of adaptation that external journalists cannot reach. This is not about politics or blame—it is about the human capacity to maintain dignity, love, and hope when everything familiar disappears.
The photographs in this series follow specific families through their displacement journey, but they represent the experience of nearly two million people whose lives have been fundamentally altered. They show how communities reorganize themselves around new realities: classrooms become homes, strangers become family, and survival becomes a collective effort. In documenting "the unraveling" of normal life, these images also capture something unbreakable about human connection and community care.
This crisis will end eventually, but its effects on civilian population will last generations. These photographs preserve not just historical evidence of unprecedented displacement, but the faces and stories of people who refused to let crisis destroy their humanity. In the midst of unraveling, they continued to weave new forms of connection, care, and hope.
Photographer Bio
Layla Abu-Hassan has spent her career documenting how civilians navigate conflict and displacement across the Middle East. Born to Palestinian refugees in the United States, she returned to the region as a journalist to tell stories often overlooked by international media. Her work focuses on community resilience and human dignity during humanitarian crises, avoiding both victimization and false heroism in favor of honest documentation of adaptation and survival.
Abu-Hassan's previous projects include long-term documentation of Syrian refugee communities, Palestinian villages affected by settlement expansion, and Iraqi families rebuilding after displacement. Her photography has been recognized for its intimate approach to global crises, using family relationships and community networks to reveal how ordinary people respond to extraordinary circumstances. She believes that authentic conflict documentation requires cultural understanding, language skills, and long-term relationship building with affected communities.
For "The Unraveling," Abu-Hassan spent six months embedded with Palestinian families during their displacement, documenting not just crisis but the daily strategies people develop to maintain dignity and community connection during humanitarian emergency.
Image Captions and Prompts
Photo 1: Temporary Home
Caption: The Khalil family arranges their belongings in a UN school classroom converted to temporary living space. Children's educational drawings remain visible on walls above improvised beds, creating a poignant contrast between the room's former purpose and its current necessity. Eight families share this classroom, maintaining privacy through carefully hung blankets while children adapt to sleeping where they once learned.
Prompt: Palestinian family organizing belongings in converted classroom, children's drawings still visible on walls above makeshift beds, blankets hung for privacy, natural light streaming through tall school windows, shot on Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with 50mm f/1.2 lens, available light photography, intimate family moment maintaining dignity despite displacement, black and white documentary photography, award-winning photojournalism, World Press Photo style
Photo 2: Water Line
Caption: Women and children form an orderly queue at one of Gaza's few functioning water sources at dawn. Each person carries multiple containers, and the line operates on an informal but efficient system developed by the community. The queue represents not just resource scarcity but community organization during infrastructure collapse—strangers helping strangers navigate shared necessity.
Prompt: Long queue of Palestinian women and children carrying water containers at dawn, organized community effort around functioning water source, dusty ground and damaged buildings in background, soft morning light creating dramatic silhouettes, shot on Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with 85mm f/1.4 lens, documentary photography showing community solidarity during crisis, natural light and genuine human interaction, award-winning photojournalism, World Press Photo winning image
Photo 3: Underground School
Caption: Teacher Fatima Al-Zahra conducts an Arabic lesson for displaced children in a basement shelter, using candlelight and a makeshift blackboard. Despite bombing overhead and overcrowded conditions, education continues as an act of resistance and hope. The children range in age from six to fourteen, all displaced from different neighborhoods but united in their determination to continue learning.
Prompt: Palestinian teacher conducting lesson for children in basement shelter by candlelight, makeshift blackboard and books scattered around, children sitting on floor listening intently, warm candlelight illuminating faces against stone walls, shot on Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with 50mm f/1.2 lens, intimate available light photography, education continuing despite war conditions, black and white documentary style, award-winning photojournalism, World Press Photo quality
Photo 4: The Bread Baker
Caption: Baker Ahmed Mahmoud works through the night using generator power to provide bread for displaced families. His small bakery has become a community lifeline, serving hundreds of families who have lost access to regular food sources. Steam from fresh bread mingles with flour dust in the predawn darkness, creating an ethereal atmosphere around this essential act of community service.
Prompt: Palestinian baker working at night in small bakery, steam and flour dust creating atmospheric lighting around bread ovens, concentrated work expression illuminated by warm oven glow, generator cables visible, shot on Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with 85mm f/1.4 lens, available light documentary photography, essential worker providing community service during crisis, dramatic chiaroscuro lighting, award-winning photojournalism, World Press Photo style
Photo 5: Medical Persistence
Caption: Dr. Maryam Qasemi examines a patient in the damaged corridor of Al-Shifa Hospital, using her phone's flashlight for illumination. The hospital's electrical system has been destroyed, but medical staff continue treating patients despite impossible conditions. Her stethoscope and gentle touch maintain professional medical care even as the infrastructure of healthcare crumbles around them.
Prompt: Palestinian female doctor examining patient in damaged hospital corridor using phone flashlight, medical equipment scattered around, debris and broken ceiling visible, focused professional care despite crisis conditions, shot on Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with 50mm f/1.2 lens, available light and phone flashlight, intimate medical moment showing dedication despite destroyed infrastructure, black and white documentary photography, award-winning photojournalism, World Press Photo winning
Photo 6: Family Connection
Caption: Grandmother Umm Mohammad comforts her grandchildren during an air raid in their shelter, her weathered hands holding young faces with infinite tenderness. Three generations huddle together sharing trauma while maintaining the family bonds that transcend immediate crisis. Her presence represents continuity and emotional stability for children whose world has been completely disrupted.
Prompt: Elderly Palestinian grandmother holding grandchildren's faces gently during air raid in shelter, multiple generations huddled together, weathered hands against young skin, candlelight creating intimate emotional moment, concrete shelter walls around family group, shot on Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with 85mm f/1.4 lens, available light documentary photography, intergenerational care and emotional support during trauma, black and white intimate portrait, award-winning photojournalism, World Press Photo style
Photo 7: Letters Home
Caption: Teenager Nour Abdallah writes in her diary by candlelight, documenting her displacement experience for future remembrance. She writes in both Arabic and English, creating a record that bridges her Palestinian identity with hopes for international understanding. Her commitment to preserving memory and identity continues even as everything familiar has been destroyed around her.
Prompt: Palestinian teenage girl writing in diary by candlelight, concentrated expression in warm candlelight, notebook and pen in hands, temporary shelter background, shot on Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with 50mm f/1.2 lens, intimate available light portrait, individual processing collective trauma through writing, black and white documentary photography showing personal resilience and memory preservation, award-winning photojournalism, World Press Photo quality
Photographer Portrait Prompt
Middle-aged Palestinian-American woman with intelligent dark eyes and shoulder-length black hair, wearing simple black clothing, confident and empathetic expression showing both strength and compassion, professional photographer with cultural depth and journalistic experience, shot in natural light, professional portrait photography
