The Stars Shine Brighter: A Father and Son in Gaza

A Palestinian journalist’s extraordinary account of family, survival, and resilience amid the ongoing genocide.

On the morning of October 7, 2023, Rami Abou Jamous is already packed. A respected francophone journalist from Palestine, he quickly grasps what the scale of the Israeli response will be. His emergency bag containing passports, clothes, medical supplies, and cash is never far away—Rami is the father of a two-year-old son, Walid, whom he must protect at all costs, physically and psychologically.

He decides to create a bubble around this little boy that fear, anxiety, and sadness will not be able to penetrate. Explosions are fireworks, drones are birds in full flight, and Walid keeps smiling. Through a series of forced moves from Gaza City to Rafah to Deir al-Balah, from a large, modern apartment to a refugee tent, Rami fights to preserve the safety and dignity of his family and neighbors. 

A declaration of a father’s love for his son, The Stars Shine Brighter plunges the reader into the everyday reality of one of the worst humanitarian disasters of our time. A unique and priceless testimony about supporting others when everything around you is collapsing.