Ten Days in Gaza

Photographs by Giuseppe Aquili, Anthony Dawton and Jim McFarlane
Manipulations by Dia al-Azzawi

In 2010, in the aftermath of the Israeli military action ‘Operation Cast Lead’, three photographers – Giuseppe Aquili, Anthony Dawton and Jim Mcfarlane – were invited by Save the Children to visit Gaza to document the damage and destruction inflicted on the children of this small Palestinian exclave. The news photographers and journalists had long left and Aquili, Dawton and McFarlane were able to spend time meeting with the children and their families to learn about and document their situation. What they saw surprised them. They witnessed widespread devastation but instead of despondency and resignation, they saw a human story of dignity under adversity, hope rather than despair.

The events of late 2023 brought that trip to Gaza back into sharp focus. The photographers recognised that what they witnessed in 2010 was part of a cycle of damage, destruction and death that seemed to be repeating itself again. They remembered the people they met and photographed in 2010 and felt that their story was still relevant and needed to be told.

Ten Days in Gaza is a tribute to the Palestinian struggle for survival and liberation in the face of the endless ordeal of Israeli occupation. This stunning collection of photographs tells a story that is often buried in western media coverage: the story of the Palestinian people as individuals with hopes and dreams. Their lives are shattered on a daily basis. They are impoverished, starving and suffering, but their spirit remains strong, as does their will to resist and survive.

This book contains 128 black & white and 12 colour photographs from the 2010 trip. It also contains 15 digital artworks created by the acclaimed Iraqi artist Dia al-Azzawi as part of an exhibition collaboration during 2011. The foreword is written especially for the book by the UK based Palestinian consultant surgeon Mr Khaled Dawas who has been working in Gaza during the present conflict, only returning to London in January 2024.

Anthony Dawton (UK) and Jim McFarlane (Australia) have worked together on projects world-wide, including in Bangladesh, Niger, Lebanon, Jordan and Russia. Giuseppe Aquili (Italy) was a London-based photographer but has since returned to his home country and changed careers. Dia al-Azzawi, born 1939, is a world renowned artist from Iraq.

‘The destruction was intense’: the photos which capture Gaza’s humanitarian crisis
Graeme Green, The Guardian, 25th January 2024 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/jan/25/ten-days-in-gaza-photography-dawton-mcfarlane

‘Ten Days in Gaza is a powerful reminder, for those who need one, to the fact that Gaza is a beautiful place with beautiful people. Gaza is destroyed now, like never before, but this book gives a lot of hope: Gaza will stand up again.’
Gideon Levy

‘Gaza’s children seen in this book are both tender and defiant, innocent yet old beyond their years.’
Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah FRCS

‘An important act of remembering of a world now utterly destroyed, making these images even more poignant now than they were when they were first taken.'
William Dalrymple

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