Al Astall, vice president of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, has spent much of the past fortnight moving among the 1,000 journalists now working in Gaza, distributing personal blast-trauma kits and battery packs, with financial help from the IFJ’s International Safety Fund. He spoke of his hope that more practical aid will be available if humanitarian convoys are allowed into the territory.
He was speaking during a meeting organised by the Brussels branch of the National Union of Journalists UK and Ireland, facilitated by the IFJ.
Whoever footage you see from Gaza is coming from a group of around 1,000 journalists, whose determination disseminate news from Palestine is extraordinary. Nearly all are living in temporary accommodation. Food is in short supply The lack of fuel means that most have to go on foot to wherever news is, carrying recording equipment on their shoulders. “We are all walking many, many miles to document what is happening – every inch of Gaza has a story to tell”.
“The international media is only seeing five per cent of what is actually happening here”, says al Astall. “We are determined to capture everything that we can and just hope that the world will wake up to what is being done to us”.
His most chilling testimony, however, was his belief that the Israeli Defence Force are deliberately targeting journalists. “The Israeli forces phone up journalists in Gaza and tell them that they and their families are going to be targeted for attack, and then the attacks come – purposefully aimed rockets and missiles deliberately intended to kill us”. It was clear from the several journalists sitting with Al Astall, that his view is widely shared among Gaza’s journalists. Coming in the wake of the killing of the family of Al Jazeera bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh’s family, this is perhaps unsurprising. Whether evidence beyond such personal testimony emerges remains to be seen.
The hook up ended abruptly. “There is too much bombing now for us to carry on” said translator, Ola Kassab. The closing image of the Zoom call was of Al Astall and his colleagues scrambling to rush from the tent in which they had been sitting, leaving only an empty water bottle in shot.
Tim Dawson is deputy general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).