In the days after October 7, 2023, the journalist fakes Alhoul packed his suitcase, hoping to imminently leave Hamilton’s house so that Gaza covers the war from the ground.
This is how it had covered the wars and conflicts of Israel-Ahamas in Gaza in the past, as the main correspondent of Associated Press.
But this time it was different. He no longer lived in the Palestinian territory and No foreign media were allowed To enter, a rule that has not changed almost two years later.
Alghoul, 42, has not renounced the return, but in the meantime, he settle for informing about the war as an independent professional from the middle of the world.
“I’m dreaming about the day I can come back,” he said. “I am emotionally attached to Gaza. I love Gaza.”
Born in Gaza, Alghoul is a permanent resident of Canada. His work means that although he, his wife and four children, including 11 -month -old twins, are not experiencing the fear and hunger first hand, continues to follow the impacts of an hour per hour, day by day.
“I keep looking at the news, looking at the scale of destruction and I realize that Gaza will never be the gaza we met,” said Algeoul. “We cannot stop saying how bad the situation is, how horrible it is in Gaza.”
Multiple media in Israel have reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants a complete military acquisition of Gaza, while almost 600 former Israeli military and security officials are asking Washington to stop fighting.
The most recent conflict began with an attack led by Hamas against Israel that killed about 1,200 Israelis and led to some 250 people being rehénes in Gaza, according to the many Israeli.
Israel’s subsequent military offensive has left more than 61,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead and wounded more than 140,000, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Journalists ‘First Line witnesses’
The Palestinians are also experiencing generalized hunger, malnutrition and disease, according to more than 100 international aid organizations that released A call to action In July. The statement was signed by organizations such as Mercy Corps, the Norwegian refugee council and international refugees.
The World Food Program information 500,000 people are lasting hunger conditions. Until Tuesday, about 188 Palestinians, including 94 children, have died of hunger since the war began, according to Gaza authorities.
Local journalists who have stayed in Gaza to document the impacts of the war can also not find clean water or sufficient food, the committee said to protect journalists, a non -profit organization that promotes global press freedom, last month.
“Israel is hungry for Gazan’s journalists in silence,” said Regional Director Sara Qudah in a statement on July 23. “They are not just journalists, they are first -line witnesses, abandoned as international media were withdrawn and denied entry.”
Looking at a photo taken five years ago from a dozen sitting men around a table smiling, Alghoul recounts what happened to each of his friends and fellow journalists since then.
Two were killed in the war, a couple informs that it is from other countries and others remain in Gaza, but they are struggling to feed themselves and their families, he said.
“Because they are journalists and still work, they can afford to buy food, but it is becoming more difficult day by day,” he said. “The crisis is hitting everyone.”
A farm oasis
Like many Palestinians in Gaza, Algeul’s life is molded by wars.
His eldest daughter, Somaya, was born during the First Gaza War in 2008-2009. When his wife got delivered, he had to go to the hospital when the bombs fell, Alghoul said.
His father was killed in that war, in his farm in northern Gaza, near the border with Israel, he said.
The farm was also destroyed, but he, her mother and other family members rebuilt her.
“Our farm was like our escape from Gaza’s concrete jungle,” Algeoul said.
The farm was bombarded again in the 2014 War and its reconstructed family, again. He was bombarded for the third time, in 2021 fights, but his family did not lose hope and built it bigger and better than before, outside the concrete and with three rooms and two bathrooms, he said.
They replaced the old citrus trees with new ones and passed part of the Covid-19 pandemic there, eating strawberries and own harvest melons, making their own bread and drinking fresh milk from their cows, Algeul said.
By then, his wife and two daughters had moved to Canada as he continued to inform from Gaza.
“I was the expert because I have connections, contacts, language, culture, everything,” he said.
In May 2021, the Israeli army bombarded The Associated Press office where Alhoul worked, claiming that Hamas was operating there. No one was injured, since they had received a warning and evacuated shortly before, but the attack was sentenced by press freedom groups that said it was a form of censorship.
Alghoul joined his family in Canada shortly after, returning to Gaza every few months to continue informing.
The last time he was there was in August 2023, on a family trip with his wife and daughters. They noticed a change in their homeland, since Israel had relieved some of their restrictions in Gaza, allowing people and goods to move more freely, Algeul said.
“Gaza was recovering and reviving,” he said. “It had become more beautiful, the food was becoming more pleasant. The atmosphere was real, genuine, unique, that’s what I love about Gaza.”
Somaya also saw a difference.
“It was really pleasant,” he said. “There was more life than before. I wanted to stay there.”
Grandma remains in Gaza
Weeks later, Hamas attacked Israel and the war began. At first, the farm of his family and the surrounding land were destroyed in Israeli attacks, Algeul said.
He said his family has not been able to access the area since he is occupied by the Israeli army. Satellite images show that the generally green landscape is now a sandy brown.
They have no plans to rebuild their country house and have mostly left Gaza for safer countries like Egypt, he said.
His grandmother, uncle and cousins remain in the city of Gaza, where life is difficult and dangerous, he said.
“They try to take care of her as much as they can,” Alhoul said. “My cousins risk their lives often going to the help distribution sites and truck routes to obtain what they could.”
He does not know how Gaza will recover or rebuild, even when the war ends.
How can, he said, “when people who have their own lives, their own homes have become people who run to obtain food, exposing themselves to death and danger to feeding their children?”
Several hundred Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli fire since May while they go to food distribution sites and help convoys, according to witnesses, local health officials and the United Nations Human Rights Office. The army says that it has only fired warning shots and disputes the toll.
While Alghoul plans to report from the ground as soon as he is allowed to enter, he said he is grateful that he, his wife and children now live in Canada.
“I know how horrible it is in Gaza. But I dare not imagine my children in that situation. I don’t even dare.”
