Almudena Ariza has turned stories gathered during more than two years reporting from Jerusalem into a graphic novel with artist Fermín Solís. “Vidas con nombre. Historias reales de Gaza y Cisjordania,” published by Salamandra Graphic, brings together 35 accounts of people living amid bombardment, occupation and repression.
Ariza, a correspondent for Spain’s public broadcaster TVE, arrived in Israel in 2023 after covering the war in Ukraine. She says she initially witnessed the pain in Israeli society following Hamas’s October 7 attack, then came to understand that the conflict’s roots went back much further. Her reporting on Gaza relied on trusted sources because journalists were barred from entering the territory.
One key source was Spanish doctor Raúl Incertis, whose reports, photographs, videos and audio messages documented daily life in Gaza. Ariza and Incertis later worked together on the podcast “Vivir y morir en Gaza.” The doctor’s experience is among the stories featured in the book.
The accounts include photographer Yahya Barzaq, who went from photographing children to documenting their bodies; Yaqeen, an 11-year-old who shared messages of hope before being killed; and doctor Alaa al-Najjar, who lost nine children in a single day. Other chapters describe life in the West Bank, including the killing of children, the seizure of homes and attacks on medical workers.
The book also examines experiences within Israeli society. One chapter follows teacher Meir Baruchin, who criticised abuses and was treated as a traitor, briefly imprisoned and permanently removed from teaching, according to Ariza. She says that her own coverage drew intense pressure and attempts to discredit her. “They wanted my head for doing journalism,” she said.
Ariza says her aim is to report with care and precision, and argues that documenting human rights abuses cannot be separated from confronting injustice. She also describes the emotional weight of the material, including the difficulty of choosing when to use the word “genocide.”
Solís and Ariza had not previously worked together in their respective roles as artist and writer. They settled on short chapters centred on the people in the stories rather than on Ariza’s own daily life. Solís adopted a more realistic drawing style than his usual cartoon approach, while using a vivid colour palette intended to make the book accessible to younger readers. He said working with the material was difficult and that images of dead children stayed with him.
Sources: El País Cultura.