"We are the People of Truth"

The last words of Gaza poet Heba Abu Nada

- Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

“BEFORE God, we in Gaza are either martyrs or witnesses to liberation and we all wait to learn where we will fall. We are all waiting, O God, Your vow is true,” Hiba Abu Nada, a 32-year-old Palestinian poet-novelist, wrote on Facebook on October 20 evening.

Her wait ended soon—perhaps in a few minutes, perhaps in a few hours. This was her last social media post. She died, along with her family, in the Israeli bombardment at the Manara neighborhood of Khan Yunis in Gaza.

Nada held a master’s degree in clinical nutrition. Her debut novel, Oxygen Is Not for the Dead, won the second prize at the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity in 2017. Palestinian political scientist Abdalhadi Alijla described her as “one of the most talented Gaza feminist poets and novelists”.