The Olive Branch Series | Gaza Storytelling Campaign
STORY 1: Gaza Singing Birds with Ahmed Abuamsha
Gaza Birds Singing, led by Ahmed @ahmedmuin_abuamsha brings agency and healing to children in Gaza through the power of music. A profound movement of melody and hope; Ahmed is a musician with a vision of peace and dignity for Palestinians.
Ahmed is the founder of the “Gaza Birds Singing” @gazabirdssinging, a music group for displaced children, run by talented music teachers from all over Gaza. They sing together, for love, for freedom and for life.
Prior to the genocide, Ahmed taught at Edward Said Conservatory which has since been destroyed – but his mission remains the same:
“Through music, we try to give children their voice back and offer hope against the rubble.
Our group is not just a musical project. It’s a human cry that tells the world: We love life. We love music. We want to live with dignity and peace like everyone else.
My deepest wish is to live in a safe place with my family where I can continue my musical and humanitarian work freely. I dream of sharing our music with the world, traveling, performing, and being a voice of beauty from Gaza — not a voice of war.
We don’t carry weapons — we carry melodies. We don’t spread hate — we spread love. We believe the world can be a better place, if only it would listen to the voice of art.
Thank you for your love and support.” -Ahmed from Gaza
If you would like to support Ahmed’s incredible work, please consider making a donation to their gofundme, link in their bio @gazabirdssinging, @ahmedmuin_abuamsha and also listed now in @theheartatlas bio.
Story Credits:
This footage has been compiled from a variety of beautiful clips shared on Ahmed’s profile (with his permission)
Footage sources: @gazabirdssinging, @ahmedmuin_abuamsha, @Europe.palestine.netowork, @savesheikhjarrahnow, @hani.amra, @youreverydaypal, @cultura_movement, @esncmpalestine, @cocktailsandcapitalism, @wonderful_palestine, @samiyusuf, @purelypalestine, @alwanchildrenfestival
Video compiled by: @susieamdavies
Collaborators: @oliviasavilekatz, @sunnyhoneyshaina
@theheartatlas
Story 2: Last Doctor Standing | Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s steadfast commitment to his patients and refusal to abandon those in need had come to make him a target of the Israeli government and military.
Months prior, the Israeli military had stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital, bombing parts of the building, detaining patients and hospital staff– as well as murdering Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s 15 year old son, Ibrahim, who was standing in the hospital’s entrance.
Despite the excruciating loss of his own son as well as shrapnel wounds he had experienced in a previous attack on the area – Dr.Hussam refused to abandon his patients.
On the 27th of December 2024, Israeli military arrived and ordered an immediate and forcible evacuation of the hospital and all of its patients– many in critical condition, before setting fire to it.
After evacuating the hospital, Dr. Hussam walked across the rubble strewn streets of Northern Gaza to inform the Israeli military that the hospital had been evacuated. He shook hands with an IDF solider.
And then – he was abducted.
Taken into Israeli custody arbitrarily, without charges or trial – where he has remained for the last 588 days.
The Israeli government’s targeting of civilians and civillian infrastructure has become a hallmark of their genocide against the Palestinian people.
This week, Dr. Hussam’s lawyer, Nasser Odeh, was finally able to secure a meeting with him.
According to Odeh’s statement, Dr. Hussam was almost unrecognizable, with severe injuries covering his body, the details, will not be described here.
But, Dr. Hussam was struggling to breathe and to sit up, and on numerous occasions seemed to be on the brink of losing consciousness.
Reluctant to speak out for fear of further retribution, he was unable to share in full what he had been experiencing in Israel’s Rakevet underground facility – notorious for its mistreatment of prisoners – starvation, systemic abuse, violence, solitary confinement and more horrors than one can fathom.
Israel has systematically destroyed and dismantled Gaza’s health system – targeting hospitals, doctors, nurses, medics and humanitarian aid workers continually over the last 1,000 days of bloodshed.
Doctors Against Genocide have reported that “destroying healthcare systems is a genocidal tactic to accelerate death. Without functioning hospitals, lives cannot be saved.”
Dr.Hussam Abu Safiya is one of thousands being arbitrarily detained by the Israeli military. Including approximately 400 Palestinian children.
This was never Israel’s fight against terror. This is an attempted obliteration of a people, a culture, and a place.
This week, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya said to his lawyer:
“They brought me here to kill me. This is the last time you will see me.”
I have carried Dr. Hussam’s story in my heart like a heavy stone under deep water.
I have thought about him often, since the day I saw the image of him in his white hospital coat, walking amidst the total devastation of his city, toward an Israeli tanker after having evacuated his hospital, in preparation for the Israel military to burn it to the ground.
It is the last image that was taken of him before his abduction.
He had no weapons. He committed no crime. He was saving Palestinian lives.
I recognise that the pitch of this catastrophe is so acute and so horrific that many of us are struggling to understand how to take meaningful action.
It can feel as though we are yelling into the void.
But I firmly believe that if we raise our voices together and remain steadfast in our advocacy for justice, that this tide will turn.
As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
The Israeli government’s relentless, insatiable and reprehensible ongoing violence against the Palestinian people must be stopped.
The world is watching and waking up and we will not be silent.
Please use your platforms, your voices and your gifts to advocate for a free Palestine, to Free Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and the 14 other doctors who are also being arbitrarily detailed by Israel.
YOUR voice matters. And together OUR voices will rise.
HOW TO TAKE ACTION:
1. Sign & Share Urgent Petitions Global human rights organizations have launched targeted campaigns demanding his immediate and unconditional release.
2. Contact Government & Diplomatic Official. Advocates are pressing governments to use their diplomatic voices to secure Dr. Abu Safiya's release.
For Australian Residents: Email Foreign Minister Penny Wong to publicly raise his case and demand his release using the Amnesty International Australia Action Page.
For US Residents: Call or write to your local representatives and senators. Use the Doctors Against Genocide Letter Template for scripts and contact details.
3. Raise Awareness on Social Media. Amplify the calls for his release by sharing his story, statements from his family, and reports from human rights observers.
Please keep amplifying Dr. Hussam's story and if you feel moved to act I'd encourage you to sign one of the petitions linked above urgently demanding Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya's release.
-Olivia, The Heart Atlas
