Documentary director Mariam Shahin has been making films about Gaza for more than 30 years. She produced a documentary for Al Jazeera English in 2009, which told the stories of six sets of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip whom she had followed for four years. When she moved to Gaza in 2005, she felt a powerful sense of optimism after the Israeli withdrawal. But by 2009, war had badly damaged its infrastructure, neighbourhoods, businesses and communities – and that optimism had evaporated.

In the middle of the current war, Mariam looks back at these stories and reflects on the wasted potential, lost hope and devastated lives after 16 years of blockade, poverty and conflict.