What is a journalist in gas

“I never imagined that once I would live and work in a tent, devoid of the most basic human essentials – even water and bathroom.

“It’s more like a greenhouse in the summer and the fridge in the winter,” said journalist Abdullah MIKDAD in the BBC.

After 22 months of the war, the majority of journalists work in tents around hospitals to access electricity and a reliable internet connection needed to perform their work.

The capacity was disabled by gas, so hospitals whose generators are still working, provide electricity for charging phones and equipment, and offers high points with the best mobile reception.

But work in hospitals did not provide them with security, and Israeli strikes on hospitals and their connections kill a number of journalists during the conflict.

On Monday, five journalists were among at least 20 people who died in a double Israeli stroke in the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

International news releases, including the BBC, are counting on local journalists in Gaza because Israel does not allow them to send journalists to the territory, except in rare cases when they are built into Israeli troops.

At least 197 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza started after the attack under the leadership of Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023 of their Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza, the US Committee on Defense of Journalists (CPJ) reports.

Ahed Farvan from Palestinian journalists Syndicate in Gaza told the BBC that he and his colleagues felt that Israeli troops “, which leaves us in constant fear for his own safety and in our families.”

After almost two years of the war, journalists are exhausted from non-stop work, but the demand for news lighting is maintained.

This opened the doors for the youth in Gaza, some of which have never worked in journalism before to become journalists and photojournalists.

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

“Every journalist in the world has the right to enjoy international protection. Unfortunately, the Israeli military does not treat journalists in this way, especially when it comes to Palestinian journalists,” said the BBC Ghada Al-Kurd, a German magazine correspondent of Der Spiegel (for which she also works).

Israel has repeatedly denied that his forces were focusing on journalists.

However, the Israeli military said that on August 10, he was aimed at al-jazeera al-Sharif correspondent in his tent in Gaza’s media, resulting in a strike that also killed three more al-jazers, two freelancers and one person. The military allegedly served as the head of the Hamas terrorist camera, which he denied death.

CPJ said Israel was unable to submit evidence to reinforce his assertion, and accused Israeli for orientation to journalists in a “intentional and systematic attempt to cover Israel’s actions” in Gaza.

On Monday, the operator of Reuters Husam Al-Masri was killed as a result of the first strike on the Nasser Hospital. A second strike, a few minutes later, killed rescue workers and four more journalists who arrived at the scene – Mariam Abu Dagga, a freelancer who worked with the Associate Press; Al -Jazera operator Mohammad Salam; Freelancer Ahmed Abu Aziz and freelance video journalist Maaz Abu Taha.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident a “tragic failure”.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military said that after the initial investigation, “the troops hit the camera located Hamas in the area of ​​the Nasser Hospital, which was used to monitor the activities (Israeli) troops.” He also identified six people, who were said to be “terrorists” killed in blows. None of the five journalists was among them.

The military did not provide evidence and did not explain the second strike.

“If you work in a tent, you never know what can happen at any moment. Your tent or its neighborhood can be bombed – what do you do then?” -It is Abdullah MIKDAD, who is al-Araber, a correspondent of television in Qatar.

“Before the camera, I have to be highly focused, mentally vigilant and fast, despite exhaustion. But a more complicated part is aware of everything that happens around me and thinking about what I could do when aiming at the place where I am,” he said BBC.

Last Friday, the famine was confirmed in Gaza for the first time with the help of a food security body.

In the integrated classification of the Food Security Phase (IPC) reported that more than 500,000 people in the gas strip were faced with “hunger, lagging and death.”

Journalists suffer in the same extreme hunger as the ones they cover.

“A cup of coffee, mixed with ground chickpeas, or a glass of unsweetened tea, can be everything you can consume throughout the working day,” says independent journalist Ahmed Jalal.

“We suffer from severe headaches and fatigue, not being able to go from hunger,” he said the BBC, “but we are still continuing to work.”

Ahmed has been moved many times with his family, but every time he continued his journalistic work, trying to provide food, water and shelter for his family.

“My heart breaks away from intense pain when I report on the murder of colleagues -journalists, and my mind tells me that I can be on … the pain consumes me inside, but I hide it from the camera and continue to work.”

“I feel breathing, exhausted, hungry, frightened – and I can’t even stop to rest.”

Year al-Kurd says that two years of lighting the news of death and hunger changed it.

“During this war, we lost the ability to express our emotions,” said the BBC. “We are in constant shock. Perhaps we will return this ability after the end of the war.”

Until this day, Year holds his fear for two daughters and grief for her brother and family whose bodies she think is still buried under the rubble after the Israeli strike in Northern Gaza at the beginning of the war.

“The war has changed our psyche and persons. We will need a long healing period to return to who we were until October 7, 2023.”

Photojournalist Amer Sultan in Gaza helped in preparation of the report.