Within days of Israel launching its war in Gaza last October, two Palestinians began filming their daily lives for the BBC. Aya fled to the south of the territory to find safety, Khalid chose to stay in the north. Between them, they document explosions, multiple evacuations, deaths and the trauma experienced by children caught up in the conflict.
Among the deeply human scenes, Khalid captures how his children’s play has been affected by their exposure to the war while Aya films her emotional reaction to news, received from afar, that her home has been destroyed.
More then 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli military action, the Hamas-run health ministry says. It comes after about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s 7 October attacks on Israel.
Aya and Khalid’s stories are two of four featured in a new BBC World Service and Storyville documentary, Life and Death in Gaza.
Life and Death in Gaza can be seen in the UK from Tuesday 15 October on BBC Two and iPlayer. The film forms part of a group of programmes on BBC Two and BBC Four, and on iPlayer, marking one year on from 7 October and the war between Israel and Hamas. Another BBC Storyville, Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again is also available to watch on iPlayer.