Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib Book “Hamas and Its Two Million Hostages” Now Available in Print and Digital Formats
Released in July 2026, “Hamas and Its Two Million Hostages” by American author and activist Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is more than just political analysis. It is a deeply personal account from someone who spent his childhood and youth in Gaza (after his family returned from Saudi Arabia), witnessing firsthand the societal shifts as Hamas systematically transformed the enclave into a zone of perpetual instability.
Alkhatib—founder of Project Realign and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.—weaves his own memoirs into an exploration of how Gaza arrived at its current state. He chronicles Hamas’s evolution from a political and religious movement into a totalitarian regime that has effectively taken the entire Strip and the futures of millions of its residents hostage.
Beyond the external facets of the conflict, the author sheds light on the internal dynamics of Gazan society. He details the erosion of everyday life, the stifling of dissent, and the heavy price exacted on a population forced to bear the brunt of Hamas’s decisions, which have dragged the territory into an endless cycle of devastating wars with Israel.
A significant portion of the book focuses on the fate of the author’s own family following the October 7, 2023, attacks. Alkhatib analyzes the fallout of these events through the lens of his personal tragedy, underscoring how Hamas leadership consciously sacrificed civilians, turning them into hostages to a catastrophic conflict.
For Alkhatib, one of Gaza’s greatest tragedies is that its people are held captive not only by external circumstances but by a system of governance engineered entirely around armed conflict. He unpacks why Hamas has managed to retain its grip on power and outlines the conditions necessary for Gazans to forge a different future.
As Alkhatib has previously noted in interviews and podcasts, his goal was to create something greater than a political treatise; he sought to provide a firsthand testimony. *Hamas and Its Two Million Hostages* is an attempt to unpack the history of Gaza through the lived experience of someone for whom this conflict is not an abstract political talking point, but an inextricable part of his life and the destiny of his people.
