Enduring devastation: "They redefined the human being in Gaza"

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Jaser Abu Mousa, a 2025 Yale Peace Fellow and past Program Officer working for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Gaza. The two discuss life and death in Gaza on personal and collective levels. They look at Hamas, which Jaser calls a "symptom" of the problem of occupation; at how the past two-plus years of war have destroyed not only all the infrastructure needed for life in Gaza but also the social fabric, as starvation and deprivation have broken human bonds and relationships; and the ways in which Israel works to make Gaza unlivable. On a personal level, Jaser speaks of his experiences in Gaza, from the violence he witnessed as a child during the second Intifada to the devastation he experienced on and since October 7, 2023: his wife, Heba, and two of his children were killed by Israeli missiles in mid-October 2023; after two years of starvation and deprivation, his mother, sister, and sister's children were killed in the war in July 2025; and his family suffered other losses, including the killing of a nephew in the beginning of the war, injuring of his father, and arrest, detention, and violence against his brother along with other medical workers. Navigating these unfathomable losses, Jaser points to his faith in God and religion as guides as he seeks to protect his living children and look towards the future. Finally, Jaser reflects on how he relates to Israelis and declares that "if I strip him from his right to tell his story, that does not make me more just, but will make me less human.” Jaser Abu Mousa is a Yale Peace Fellow examining how Gaza's postwar reconstruction can reflect Palestinians' priorities while repairing the social fabric of society. Most recently, he was a Program Officer working for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Gaza, Palestine until the breakout of the current war in October 2023. During the war, Jaser lost his wife, Heba, and two children, Hmaid (18) and Abdulrahman (8), and left Gaza with his remaining two children, Abdallah and Sham, for treatment in the United Arab Emirates. Prior to his work with Swiss, Jaser served in the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), working under immense pressure during the 2014 war to report incidents, coordinated and communicate movements and follow intense political developments. Prior to that, Jaser worked as a social worker for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the aftermath of the 2009 war, including leading a team of 50 social workers to run the poverty survey for UNRWA in the area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. He also led a team of engineers to verify the work of a European contribution 30 million Euros known as the Private Sector Reconstruction in Gaza (PSRG). Between 2006-2009, he worked extensively as a political researcher in a Gaza-based think tank; during this period he reported on and analyzed Hamas’ rise to power in the Strip. Jaser holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the Islamic University of Gaza and a Master of Science degree in Project Management. In addition to his work as an analyst and a development/humanitarian practitioner, he has worked as a civil engineer at private construction companies and UN agencies. Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and an MSNBC Political Commentator. His newest book (published 2025) is Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.