Likes to be a journalist in Gaza

“I never thought that one day I am living in a tent and working, deprived of the most basic human needs – even water and a bathroom.

“It is like a greenhouse in summer and a refrigerator in winter,” journalist Abdullah Mikadad told the BBC.

After 22 months of war in Gaza, most journalists find themselves working in tents around hospitals so that they need to do their work to reach electricity and reliable internet connections.

Electricity has been cut into Gaza, so hospitals, whose generators are still working, provide electricity to charge phone and equipment, and provide high marks with better mobile reception.

But they have not got security from working in hospitals, with Israeli attacks and their compounds on hospitals, many journalists have been killed during the conflict.

On Monday, five journalists were among at least 20 people killed in a dual Israeli strike at Nasir Hospital in Southern city of Unis.

International news outlets including BBCs rely on local correspondents within Gaza, as Israel does not allow them to send journalists to the field, except except rare opportunities when they are embedded with Israeli soldiers.

At least 197 journalists and media activists have died after the war on Israel on 7 October 2023 after the war in Gaza-189 of them protected journalists (CPJs) by Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza in 189.

Ahid Farwana of Syndicate of Palestinian journalists in Gaza told the BBC that he and his colleagues felt targeted by the Israeli armies “which leaves us in our security and constant fear for our families”.

After almost two years of war, journalists are abolished from non-stop work, but news coverage demands.

It has opened the door to young people in Gaza, some of whom had never worked before in journalism, to become reporters and photo journalists.

Some journalists officially work for local or international media outlets, but many are hired at temporary contracts. This means that their employment is less estimated and the resources that receive protective equipment, insurance, and they receive them are very different.

Gada al-Kurd, a reporter from German magazine Der Speigel, told the BBC, “Every journalist in the world has the right to enjoy international security. Unfortunately, the Israeli army does not treat journalists like this, especially when it comes to Palestinian journalists,” Gada Al-Kurd, a reporter of Palestinian magazine Der Spiegel, has also described BBC for whom.

Israel has repeatedly denied that its strengths target journalists.

However, the Israeli army stated that it targeted Al Jazira correspondent Anas Al-Sharif in her media tent in Gaza City on August 10, in which three other al-Jazeera employees, two freelancers and another person were also killed in a strike. The army alleged that Sharif “served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas”, which he refused to death before.

The CPJ said Israel has failed to provide evidence to support its allegation, and accused Israeli forces of targeting journalists in a “deliberate and systematic effort” to cover Israel’s works in Gaza.

Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri was killed in the first strike at Nasir Hospital on Monday. The second strike, after minutes, killed rescue workers and four other journalists, who reached the spot – Maryam Abu Dagga, who was a freelancer working with the Associated Press; Al Jazeera cameraman Mohammad Salama; Freelance journalist Ahmed Abu Aziz and freelance video journalist Moaz Abu Taha.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as a “tragic accident”.

The Israeli army said on Tuesday that, after a preliminary investigation, “it” trips appear “a camera that was deployed by Hamas in the area of ​​Nasir Hospital, which was being used to inspect the activity [Israeli] The soldiers “. It also identified six people, who were said to have been killed in the” terrorist “attack. None of the five journalists was any of them.

The army did not provide any evidence and no clarification for the second strike.

“When you are working inside a tent, you never know what can happen at any moment. Your tent or its surroundings can be bombed – what do you do then?” Abdullah Mikadad says, who is a reporter for Al-Arabic TV at Qatar.

He said, “In front of the camera, I have to focus excessive focus despite exhaustion, be mentally cautious and accelerated. But the difficult part is aware of everything happening around me and is thinking what I can do if I am targeted,” he told the BBC.

Last Friday, for the first time in Gaza City, the fumene was confirmed by an un-supported body responsible for monitoring food security.

The Integrated Food Safety Character Classification (IPC) reported that more than 500,000 people were facing “starvation, destruction and death” in the Gaza strip.

Journalists in Gaza are suffering the same extreme hunger that they are covering.

Independent journalist Ahmed Jalal says, “A cup of coffee is mixed with ground chickpeas, or a glass without tea, which you can consume throughout the working day.”

“We are suffering from severe headache and fatigue, sheer is unable to walk with hunger,” he told the BBC, “but we still proceed with our work.”

Ahmed has been displaced several times with his family, yet every time he has continued his journalism work while trying to secure food, water and shelter for his family.

“When I report the murder of fellow journalists, my heart breaks down from intense pain, and my brain tells me that I can be ahead … The pain eats me from inside, but I hide it from the camera and keep working.”

“I think that suffocated, tired, hungry, scared – and I can’t even stop to relax.”

Gada al-Kurd says that two years of reports about death and hunger have changed.

“During this war, we have lost the ability to express our feelings,” Gada told the BBC. “We are in a continuous position. Perhaps after the war ends, we will regain this ability.”

By that day, Gada withdrew her fear for her two daughters and her brother and her family, whose bodies believe that at the beginning of the war, the northern Gaza is buried under the debris even after an Israeli strike in North Gaza.

“War has changed our hymns and personalities. We will need a long period of treatment to return to what we were before 7 October 2023.”

In Gaza, photo journalist Amer Sultan assisted in preparing the report.