During the last days, Rami Abu Jamous has not been going to the field. This Palestinian journalist remains in his accommodation west of Gaza-Ville with his wife and two children, 4 and 7 years old: at any time, the Israeli army that has led a fierce offensive in the main city of the enclave can in mid-August can intimidate them, a few minutes before the bombing.
“My daily life has changed for three days since they began bombing the towers, as in which I live,” said the journalist, contacted the day before the launch of Tsahal’s land offensive in Gaza-Ville. “I prepared three bags and left them, they only give us ten minutes and a quarter of an hour to leave.”
In addition to his fear of leaving his family behind, the 47 -year -old man can no longer convert reports for channels of what he usually works. “For several weeks, due to the famine, and due to my age, I no longer have the strength to walk under the sun, to make miles away,” he warned.
Witnesses and victims of disastrous humanitarian conditions
Like half a million people according to the UN, Rami faces the famine that is enraged in the enclave, subject to total humanitarian block from spring. The remaining food prices exploded: “Prices have multiplied by 8 or even per 100, the last time I bought a 1,000 euros meal bag.” However, the journalist is considered “lucky compared to others.” He and his family eat a piece of bread accompanied by Zaatar (a mixture of spices, note of the editor) in the morning, then a plate of lentils at night.
“It gives the feeling of being satisfied. Even yes, the other day, when marking eating lenses every day, it was falling (an inflammation of the joints due to the uses of uric acid crystals, the editor’s note), my foot was swollen, I could no longer walk,” he recalls.
Hamed Sbeata, a 23 -year -old journalist -old Gazaoui contacted by BFMTV, is particularly affected by the lack of drinking water in Gaza. Due to a genetic disease, called Alport Syndrome, in 2020 it received a kidney transplant and needs mineral water to maintain good health. “The water here is very contaminated, it is very harmful to my health. It has repercussions on my blood pressure, my heart rate and it causes me violent head pain,” he explains, a support for the medical report.
“I have often wanted to stop working, take a break, not to go to the field, but I can’t. It’s my passion, so the cost of living is very high here, so it is essential that I work to support my family,” says Hamed. “Despite the danger and fear of bombing.”
“To silence us, they kill us”
In response to the October 7 attack, the Israeli army has bombarded the Gaza Strip for almost two years and has further intensified its offensive with the aim of eliminating Hamas. At least 64,964 people died in the Palestinian enclave, according to the Ministry of Health of the Territory.
More than 210 journalists were killed, according to the latest report of reporters without borders. He has shown that 56 of them were killed as part of their function. Field work that can only be done by Palestinian journalists, Israel who avoids the entry of the entire international press.
“The evaluation is not precedents. It is currently the most dangerous country for journalists. In this space of time and in such a small territory, we have never seen these figures,” supports Jonathan Dagher, head of the Middle East Office of RSF, contacted by BFMTV.
On August 25, five journalists, three of whom collaborated with Al Jazeera, Reuters and AP, were killed in an Israeli strike at Nasser hospital in Khan Younès, south of the Gaza Strip. Reuters said that at the time of the first strike, his collaborator was broadcasting a live video flow from the hospital, which was cut abruptly.
Two weeks before, six other reporters were killed in an Israeli strike, including the correspondent of the Qatar al Jazeera, Anas Al-Sharif “that was attacked,” according to RSF.
“Our work is more difficult than ever. We have lost colleagues, and every day we lose more. We do not know who will be next. We are working in the field, scared, because we are exposed to bombing and attacks,” Hamed reports. The journalist, who worked for the American channel Sky News, France TV or TF1, believes that he has already escaped “miraculously when he dies.”
The bulletproof vests or helmets, marked with the acronym for the press, “transform journalists into goals,” says Jonathan Dagher of RSF. Therefore, reporters have no protection. And the Palestinians fear their contact. “People do not want to get too close to journalists, they don’t want to have their store with that of a journalist, for example, because they fear being attacked,” the organization said.
This distrust, Rami lived. Always taking the same street, on foot, to go to his office in Gaza-Ville, a resident questioned him one day about his profession. “He told me, laughing ‘the next time you don’t go here because you’re threatened,” he said. “Since then, I have not returned to this path, I don’t want to scare it.”
“We, journalists, in general, we are sentenced to death. We do not want to witness their crimes,” said the journalist. “To silence us, they kill us.”
Formerly repeated
Journalists are also subject to the displacement of the population. Rami left Gaza-Ville for the first time in November 2023, when his neighborhood was surrounded by Israeli forces.
“The army told us to evacuate, that we would go out with white flags from a specific place. What we did, but shot us, one of our neighbors was killed,” recalls the father. Then he joined Rafah, in the south of the enclave before saving twice location, then joining Gaza-Ville during the last high fire last winter. A city that the Israeli army has again called to evacuate in front of the launch of its main offensive.
“Like me, people still do not want to move south. Some cannot afford to go because it costs money, so there is no more space in the south,” he said.
After long days of uncertainty, feeling that the bombings approach, Hamed and his family emigrated. This is the sixth time since October 7. Not without difficulty, they found a place in a refugee camp in the south. In the images that he transmitted to us, we see a white tent, a business full of the side, then a rich stove with an ancient end of the oxidized and a rusty barrel. Far “from the beautiful house” of its district al-shuja’iyya that was “scratched of the card”.
Despite the conditions, Hamed continues to film the bottled trucks and Gazan’s cars in Exodus South. Some move in the cart due to lack of means. “To find a liter of gasoline, you must pay more than $ 100,” said the young reporter. In the exercise of their function, journalists must favor walking or moving in a car. An obstacle to your work, among others.
“An unprecedented media blockade
Since October 7, Gaza’s strip has been deprived of electricity. “You have to go through generators or solar panels. This is a real problem to recharge phones, laptops, cameras,” Rami said. The Internet connection is also rare in the enclave.
“Due to destruction, communication has generally been reduced, except that most of our work is done online. To send rushes (filming extracts, editor’s note), do directly, it is necessary,” adds the journalist. “There is a lot of blackout.”
To avoid these communication problems, some journalists, such as Hamed, use virtual fleas, dematerialized SIM cards “to try to continue working and communicate with the world.”
“It is very difficult for journalists in Gaza to go to Fuentes or communicate with Editorials outside,” says Jonathan Dagher, head of the Middle East Office for RSF. Especially because foreign writing has no right to access the Palestinian enclave, prevented by Israel.
RSF, who filed four complaints to the International Criminal Court, denounces “a means of media”, “unpublished” and indicates the “defamation” of which Palestinian journalists are victims. Israel accuses them of supporting Hamas.
“They are often accused, before or after their death, of being terrorists, while for many, they resisted the oppression directed by Hamas before the beginning of the war,” said Jonathan Dagher. “This aims to question their integrity and, therefore, the information they cover.”
“When we see the unbearable images that leave the Gaza Strip, we can clearly see why the Israeli army is interested in forming the press,” he thinks.
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Source: BFM TV
