News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Analysis Based on factual reporting, although it incorporates the expertise of the author/producer and may offer interpretations and conclusions.
During the golden hour in Quezon City, Philippines, a special Palestinian food pop-up event wraps up. The event, led by Little Gaza, a community of Palestinian and Palestinian-Filipino refugees who recently evacuated Gaza, is taking place on a humid March afternoon in Manila. The aromas from spice-infused Palestinian food fills the common area of an apartment building where newly resettled refugees are being housed.
The pop-up’s chefs greet a never-ending line of customers who are eager to both taste homemade meals—kabsa, maqluba, chicken musakhan, and other delicacies—and express their solidarity with Palestine. Each plate costs up to 150 Philippine pesos (roughly $2.70) per order, with the funds supporting Little Gaza’s Kitchen, a group of food businesses run by Palestinian refugee families rebuilding their lives in the Philippines because the Israeli government is violently occupying their home.
With nine kitchens shared among 16 families, Little Gaza’s Kitchen hosts and participates in occasional events, including a held during Ramadan, where their food offerings sold out quickly. Outside of these occasional events, Little Gaza’s Kitchen operates as a , with all meals cooked in their homes.
As the day slows down, a group of Filipino Muslims and Palestinian refugees make their way to the apartment’s rooftop to gather for iftar, the meal eaten at sunset to break their fast during Ramadan. They sit cross-legged on carpets, distributing tubs of chicken biryani as they prepare to pray. While the adults pray, the children play, unapologetically loud and alive. Watching them play left me wondering what it’s like to grow up as a child in Palestine and what it’s like for these families to be forced to build their lives again.
The Philippines has become a refuge to since November 2023, with 70 of them living in a residential area in Quezon City, now known as Little Gaza.
Since October 2023, Palestinians have been fleeing Gaza to escape Israel’s genocidal military incursion. Though Egypt is to flee Gaza at this time, the majority of are closed. Only few may enter, like foreign passport holders, the wounded, and those economically resourced to evacuate.
Today, there are nearly . hosts the largest number of this population, with more than 2 million Palestinian refugees, followed by Syria with 584,000 and Lebanon with 491,000. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency operates these refugee camps, including .
The thread between Gazan refugees and the Philippines is tied by the Filipino-Palestinians who uprooted and found a home in Palestine. There are more than , and 137 of them in Gaza. The majority of Filipinos in Gaza are women married to Palestinians and are dependents of them. Since October, they have been urged by the Philippine government to escape Gaza with their families.
Yasmin, a science teacher who fled Gaza with her children in February, has now settled in the Philippines. Yasmin has dual Palestinian-Filipino citizenship since she was born in the Philippines. When she was forced to leave Gaza, the Philippine embassy provided her a path to repatriation.
Although reluctant, Yasmin evacuated Gaza for the sake of her children, a Palestinian-Filipino women married to Palestinian spouses: “I didn’t want to leave. Because my husband and my father [were] still there… they weren’t approved to be evacuated,” Yasmin shares.
Refugees who only have Palestinian citizenship have to pay $5,000 to the Egyptian government to escape Gaza, with other demanding up to double this cost. The cost is an obstacle for many Gazans, including Yasmin’s husband and father.
“You know, we have a great life in Gaza,” she says. “We have beautiful houses. We had a car. We had a beautiful routine. I am a science teacher back there at the United Nations School, and the war began.”
Because the Philippine government’s initial support was , Gazan refugees relied on community-based assistance to sustain their livelihoods.
The -Palestinian Cooperation Team (MPACT) has been supporting Little Gaza in managing administrative concerns and taking care of monthly bills. Kamilah Dimaporo Manala-o, one of MPACT’s cofounders, shares that the seven-person organization was birthed out of the need to support the Gazan evacuees.
“My husband and I—together with five other individuals—put up and manage Little Gaza,” says Manala-o. “When we saw how serious this was, the weight of the responsibility and commitment, we agreed that together we are the Moro-Palestinian Cooperation Team.”
The team raises funds to pay $5,090 (or 280,000 Philippine pesos) of monthly rent for 16 families and other bills, like water and electricity. Little Gaza’s Kitchen then became a viable option to sustain the refugee community.
Other grassroots organizers in Manila, most of whom are artists, have also come together to support the Palestinian refugee community. When Little Gaza’s Kitchen needed to use social media and branding to attract customers, artist and grassroots organizer volunteered to design each business’s logos and menus free of charge.
Nyunyu, who is disabled, finds this act of solidarity more accessible than protests and rallies. Due to chronic radiculopathy, it can be challenging and even dangerous for Nyunyu to participate in public demonstrations for Palestinian solidarity. Since there is an assumption that the real fight is on the streets, Nyunyu says, “Even amongst comrades, I feel like an afterthought most of the time.”
Collaborating with Palestinian refugees to brainstorm and design the brands for their food businesses is far more doable for Nyunyu. “It is nice to find this tiny place in the movement,” Nyunyu says.
When designing for Little Gaza’s Kitchen, Nyunyu considered how to make each logo unique. “What if we distinguished each family by color?” Because Little Gaza is starting to build a legacy of bringing Palestinian food to the Philippines, Nyunyu was compelled to move in a more personalized direction: “Let’s just draw the faces of these people to draw them closer to Filipinos!”
With their consent, visual sketches of family members ended up in each food business’s logo, which Nyunyu considers a more humanizing approach: “[We chose] logos with people’s faces so that [customers] can identify [the families]… bringing this closer to the [Filipino] people and making the kitchens more identifiable with the people behind them.”
Most of the Palestinian refugees I spoke with shared a hope for a permanent cease-fire that will allow them to return home.
“Palestinians own the land,” Yasmin says. She added, “And we hope… when the war stops, we leave to go back there. Because we grew up there, we have our memories there. We have our relatives, our loved ones—we really want to get back there.”
While Yasmin says she is grateful for the Philippines welcoming her and other refugees, she also hopes for a future in Palestine. “We are very grateful for the management here. They helped us in so many ways,” she says. “We are really grateful for that. But we [are] really homesick.”
As the world continues to witness Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestine, may the world also see the various expressions of solidarity for a liberated Palestine from all around the world, including the resilient Little Gaza.
To learn more about Little Gaza’s Kitchen, visit . to Little Gaza’s Kitchen.
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Gabes Torres
(she/siya) is a mental health practitioner, grassroots organizer, and writer based in the global South. Her clinical practice and research focus on collective and intergenerational trauma and healing methods, including the psychosomatic implications of imperialism, racism, climate catastrophes, and human rights violations. Her passion is elevating communities and models of collective flourishing.
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