Journalists continue to speak out about the wars between Israel and Gaza

Since the attacks on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, the death toll for journalists documenting the war between Israel and Gaza has significantly increased. According to Al Jazeera, experts say Israel is deliberately targeting identified journalists in Gaza.   

Since the attacks in October 2023, Middle East Monitor has reported that 173 journalists have been killed. The International Federation of Journalists has researched that the mortality rate for media workers is over 10 percent in Gaza. The Committee to Protect Journalists has said, “The war in Gaza was the most dangerous ever for reporters.”  

Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul, along with his cameraman Rami al-Rifi, were killed on July. 31, at a refugee camp in Gaza. According to the video of Ismail Al Ghoul reporting in Gaza, he and Rami were wearing vests that identified them as press. However, they were killed in the Shati refugee camp in an Israeli airstrike on their vehicle. According to Al Jazeera, they were in the area reporting near the house of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas who was assassinated hours earlier.   

As reported in the article, Ismail was reporting on the suffering of displaced and injured Palestinians who were affected by “Massacres committed by the Israeli occupation against innocent people in Gaza,” as said by Anas al-Sharif , Al Jazeera’s journalist who was reporting the incident at the hospital where the bodies of his two colleagues were brought. Maan Bishara, a Palestinian refugee and author, was interviewed by Al Jazeera following the incident, and he said, “They are sticking around with their people as they tell the world what is going on in Gaza.”    

Dana Ayoub, a Lebanese and Palestinian criminology student at Laurier and President of the Middle Eastern Student Association, discussed how the events occurring in Gaza have affected not only her but her family as well. Her mother is Lebanese, while her father is Palestinian, though he was born in Lebanon after her grandmother was forced out of Palestine and immigrated there. “My mother is very scared because my family is obviously in Lebanon…My aunt is in Lebanon, she can’t hear the sounds of planes anymore, it is PTSD for her,” said Ayoub. During her visit to Lebanon in June of 2024, she said her mother had to prepare her for what she was about to hear. “Sometimes at night, they would fly really close and shake our whole house like an earthquake is happening. It’s woken me up multiple times, it’s traumatizing, it’s scary, and I couldn’t imagine what my parents went through before.” 

Ayoub continues to advocate for Palestine by attending protests, using social media despite account suspensions and boycotting companies not in support of Palestinians. Ayoub said, “We need to get our land back; this has been happening for 76 years. We’ve been fighting for our rights, for liberation, we’ve been fighting for freedom.” 

The Health Ministry in Gaza has reported that as of Nov. 21, the death toll in Gaza has reached more than 44,000 people since Oct. 7, 2023. 70 per cent of the death toll were women and children, and 80 per cent of Palestinians were killed in their houses. The UN reports that majority of the death toll is caused by Palestinians who were left injured, displaced, starved and without access to water, food, or health care.  

This article was originally published in print Volume 24, Issue 4 on Thursday, December 5.