Forced Into the Spotlight: Journalists in Gaza

posted on: Sep 30, 2026

By: Luma Alaraje / Arab America Contributing Writer

Nadra Al-Tibi never planned to become a journalist. As a schoolteacher and psychological first-aid specialist, she began documenting life in Gaza after October 7, 2023. Her English-speaking skills were a main factor in her deciding to document the atrocities she was witnessing. At the start of the genocide in Gaza, Nadra had already been keeping a daily journal of life under constant threat. After some push from her friend outside of Gaza, she felt a responsibility to use her skills to show the world what was happening to them, as a journalist. 

Nadra was not alone. Many young Palestinians in Gaza found themselves picking up their cameras and phones to share their realities with the world. From Nadra’s writing to Khaled Al-Kafarneh’s camera, from Bisan Owda’s videos to Motaz Azaiza’s photographs, Palestinians have documented their lives as they unfold around them. Professional journalists in Gaza have faced a similar reality. Forced to continue reporting under constant threats on their lives and families, reporters like Wael Al-Dahdouh and Anas Al-Sharif had everything taken from them simply because they kept on reporting. 

Since 2023, journalists in Gaza have been placed in a unique predicament. They are forced into the spotlight, not only as witnesses or recorders of history, but people actively living the realities that they are documenting. 

Ordinary People Become Witnesses

Khaled Al-Kafarneh and Nadra Al-Tibi had similar paths to journalism. Like Nadra, Khaled never intended to be a journalist. Before October 7th, 2023, Khaled was a wedding photographer in Gaza, capturing moments of happiness between couples and their families. Following the escalation in Gaza, Khaled found himself in a position where he was witnessing the destruction of his home–and he had a camera. The camera that was once used to capture the happiest moments of Palestinian lives was now used as a tool to document their deepest grief. What had once been a way for Khaled to capture memories had become a means of sharing the reality of what was happening around him. 

Nadra and Khaled are part of a much larger network of Palestinian journalists and documentarians who have used social media and photography to bring the reality in Gaza to audiences across the world. People like Bisan Owda, Motaz Azaiza and Plestia Alaqad became widely recognized for documenting their experiences and the experiences of those around them in Gaza. They were prompted to begin documenting their daily lives and experiences under genocide, providing people outside Gaza with firsthand accounts of what was happening on the ground.

No Longer Just a Witness

For some journalists in Gaza, reporting on the war has meant reporting on their own lives. The people they interview are their neighbors, the places they document are their homes, and the losses they report are sometimes their own. 

Wael Al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, experienced this reality firsthand. Wael’s wife, son, daughter and grandson were all killed in an airstrike on his home in 2023. Despite the loss of his family, he continued reporting on what was happening inside Gaza. His work as a journalist became a way for him to document the violence and destruction that he was experiencing firsthand. During this time, he also faced threats to his life as well as to his remaining family.

In December 2023, an Israeli airstrike injured Wael while he was reporting at the Al-Haifa school in Khan Younis. The airstrike also fatally wounded Wael’s cameraman, Samer AbuDaqa, who later died after being unable to reach emergency medical care due to heavy Israeli gunfire on the school. Despite his injuries, Wael began reporting again shortly afterward. Wael’s life became inseparable from his responsibilities as a journalist. He often described journalism as not simply a job, but rather, a mission. 

When Reporting Comes at a Cost

Wael’s experience was not an isolated one. Anas Al-Sharif was a journalist for Al Jazeera Arabic, focused on reporting from the North of Gaza during the genocide. He was well known for his resilience and determination to continue reporting despite the dangers that surrounded him. Anas lost his father in an airstrike on his family home in 2023, yet he continued reporting.

In October 2024, while reporting on the massacre in Beit Lahia, Anas was reading the names of those killed when he came across the names of several of his own relatives. When a colleague asked whether the victims were his relatives, Anas confirmed that they were. Yet he continued reporting. He was determined to provide information to the public while dealing with the grief of losing his own family. 

In August 2025, Anas Al-Sharif was killed alongside Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, and freelance journalists Momen Aliwa and Mohammed al-Khalidi in a strike on a media tent in front of Al-Shifa Hospital. After his death, Anas Al-Sharif’s account on X posted a final message he had prepared in anticipation of his death. In the post he wrote, “This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.” 

The Price Palestinian Journalists Pay

Anas al-Sharif was not alone. His death was one of many that have made Gaza one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 189 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023. 

Behind these numbers are journalists, photographers, cameramen, editors, and other media workers who were documenting the events unfolding around them. The mass targeting of journalists has made the responsibility of those who remain even more profound. They are not only reporting a war in which they themselves are at risk, but they are also reporting while watching their colleagues disappear around them. 

Despite their experiences of immense loss, journalists in Gaza still persist, driven by a sense of responsibility to their people and their homeland. Khaled lost his brother, friends and home. Motaz and Bisan have documented the loss of their friends and family members. Wael lost his wife, son, daughter, and grandson in one airstrike, was injured while reporting, and lost his other son, Hamza, who was also a journalist. Anas lost his life while reporting, leaving behind his family and children. They all understood the risks of documenting war crimes committed against their people, yet they still continued to report. For journalists in Gaza, documenting their reality has become more than a profession. It has become a mission. For their reporting, no risk is too much, no threat is strong enough, and no barriers placed upon them will ever stop them from sharing the truth to the world.

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Bibliography

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