COMICS and graphic narratives have long been used to document the events of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both by people visiting and reporting on the region, as well as by Palestinians and Israelis.

Prominent texts include comic-book artist and journalist Joe Sacco’s Palestine (Jonathan Cape, 2003), a detailed and visually chaotic account of the artist’s visit to Gaza, and Sarah Glidden’s How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less (Drawn & Quarterly, 2016), a travelogue detailing the cartoonist’s experience as a Jewish-American tourist in Israel.

There is also Guy Delisle’s Jerusalem (Jonathan Cape, 2012), a story about living in Israel as a French-Canadian ex-pat, Palestinian artist Leila Abdelrazaq’s Baddawi (Just World Books, 2015), a historical and familial retelling of life in a Lebanese refugee camp, and Palestinian political cartoonist Naji al-Ali’s A Child in Palestine (Verso, 2009), a collection of political cartoons featuring a now-iconic child named Handala. Israeli comic-book artist Rutu Modan’s Exit Wounds (Jonathan Cape, 2007) recounts a love story set against the backdrop of a suicide bombing.

Comics and illustration can be powerful forms of witness in their capacity to juxtapose text and image. While some illustrators or cartoonists have replicated anti-semitic, Orientalist and anti-Arab stereotypes, others seek to document, educate and empathise with victims.

Here, I discuss how creators have recently taken to social media to share short comics about what many experts say is the Palestinian genocide in real time. I focus not on the stereotypes we might find in comics related to Israel and Palestine, but instead prioritise how they are acting as networked resources.

Palestinian artists such as Mohammad Sabaaneh (@sabaaneh on Instagram), author of Power Born of Dreams: My Story is Palestine (Street Noise Books, £11.99, 2021) and Palestine in Black and White (Saqi, £10.99, 2018), offers regular updates about events in Gaza while highlighting the artist’s criticism of the IDF.

In one post, Sabaaneh illustrates the word “Gaza” as if it were carved from large stones, and the word “genocide” spelled out across a series of rockets.

Sabaaneh’s evocative illustrations have been featured in the Washington Post alongside the work of other Palestinian and Israeli cartoonists who are similarly sharing their critiques of the ongoing violence.

These digital comics are circulated among platform users and provide an accessible outlet for processing emotion, showing solidarity and disseminating knowledge.

This is in line with media and communication scholar Fredrika Thelandersson’s research on mental health and social media, which argues that platform users “leverage platform affordances to create networks of care based in mutual experience.” It is also reflective of my work on how social media-based comics are operating as alternative mental health resources.

While the comics I point to in this article allow artists to process their feelings towards the conflict, they are also a crucial form of resistance to the ongoing attacks on Gaza and surrounding areas.

Cartoonist Lynda Barry (@thenearsightedmonkey on Instagram) has consistently used Instagram to showcase her protest, sharing what the artist calls “Ceasefire Balloons.” In these drawings, Barry uses balloons to represent the growing death count of Palestinian children. Barry’s posts are often met with messages of support and empathy from followers. Her activist work has also translated into a fundraising project, with paintings of “Ceasefire Balloons” being sold on Etsy in support of the Middle East Children’s Alliance.

Montreal author and illustrator Sandra Dumais has also taken up a practice of creating comics that reflect her response to the ongoing attacks while simultaneously spreading messages of awareness and solidarity.

By doing so, these webcomics join global calls for a ceasefire and serve as a means of virtual activism by way of community-enacted resistance. Artists and platform users interact with and take up each other’s work as a way of creating a digital social movement.

This is reminiscent of what social media scholars studying mental health communities, such as Natalie Ann Hendry, refer to as “being together alone,” where people working through experiences find community, solidarity and support in popular online spaces.

The artists as an example of how comics and social media are working as a conduit for amplifying the experiences of marginalised communities across geographical borders.

Comics not only show what is happening in Gaza through illustration, but also provide an alternative to mainstream perspectives. This means two things: these webcomics are functioning as emotional outlets for the artists, as well as intentional acts of solidarity and resistance.

Amy Mazowita is a PhD candidate and 2023-24 public scholar, Concordia University.

This is an abridged version of an article republished from theconversation.com under a Creative Commons licence.