‘For the women who gave birth in the dark’: a portrait of motherhood in Gaza

Diana Shams gave birth to her second child, daughter Rose, in early 2023. Not a year later, they were living in makeshift shelters having fled their home. Photograph: Diana Shams

She used to worry about screen time. She used to fret over sugar. She used to dwell on what cartoon character might be the right one to put on her son’s next birthday cake.

“I thought being a mother meant sleepless nights, picky eaters, school runs, messy rooms and too much laundry,” writes the author Diana Shams. “I used to think motherhood was hard.”