Gaza Mama is both a personal diary and a selection of political articles written on her blog and for various news agencies by a young mother in Gaza. It is a window into the life of a busy journalist and a caring mother, a spectator observing, and most importantly, an actor living Gaza from the outside in.

How does a mother explain the complex reality of Gaza to her own young children, rightly perplexed at the attitude of visa authorities, the threats of Israeli soldiers and the pain and unbelonging experienced by those around them, for a homeland they are often denied entry to and seldom see? How can a journalist cover the story of her homeland objectively , while it is being bombed and occupied, its occupants imprisoned and dispossesed?

El-Haddad s book is the story of a Gazan, life and blood, reporting on Palestinian politics and elections, massacres and border controls, and Israel s 22-day bombardment and blockade of Gaza in 2008-2009, the infamous Operation Cast Lead.