GAZA CITY — They are the world’s eyes. For the past seven months, they’ve been working in a complicated, hazardous and even hostile environment. Photojournalists in the sealed-off Gaza Strip have been risking their lives to report to the world what they are seeing through their cameras.
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Among them is Ahmed Al Danaf, whose pictures have been published by global media outlets since the war began nearly eight months ago. Over the course of the war, Israel, which controls all of Gaza’s crossing points, barred independent journalists from entering the enclave, which is described by the United Nations as the “most dangerous place in the world.”
A daily choice
When he goes out to work, Al Danaf’s thoughts are divided between the survival and protection of his family, and his desire to document “the genocide to which my people are exposed in Gaza and the weakness of their capabilities,” he said. For him, being a photojournalist is not just a technical job, it’s a daily confrontation with harsh obstacles that require a firm will and determination to bring the true picture to the world.
The real reward is the feeling of responsibility in bringing the truth and showing the reality to the world.
The mission begins in an atmosphere fraught with dangers and challenges. He prepares himself, and ensures that all equipment is working. His personal safety is also priority; he follows the principle that the journalist’s safety is more important than getting the story or the photo.
“I carry my equipment with me, and I move around quickly and carefully, challenging conditions that may lead to damage or loss of equipment,” he said. “Sometimes there are barriers or areas that are very dangerous and cannot be crossed, due to ongoing fighting or potential bombing. This puts me in a situation that requires quick decisions to determine whether the photo is worth the risk.”
Risks and rewards
Like his colleagues, Al Danaf other challenges — such as limited availability fuel for transportation, and the destruction of destruction of infrastructure, communication and internet lines — that impact their response to events. He said that the Israeli military used to strike internet and communication networks in an area before invading it, delaying the delivery of photos and footage.
“We had to stand in high places, on rooftops, and move between streets and hospitals to find Internet connections or a transmission signal, especially with the complete power outage in Gaza. That exposes us to risks. And sometimes we stay 24 hours without sleep, to send breaking news on time,” he said.
“International law has failed to protect journalists in Gaza.”
Photojournalists have a great responsibility to protect their equipment; if it is damaged or lost, the photojournalist not only loses their means of making a living, but more importantly their priceless images, Al Danaf said. So protecting their equipment is a priority equivalent to personal survival.
Al Danaf said the wages do not match the risks and challenges in the war-torn enclave: “The real reward is the feeling of responsibility in bringing the truth and showing the reality to the world,” he said.
Fellow journalists
Every time, Al Danaf and his colleagues say goodbye to one another: when they go out to cover the aftermath of a strike for example, as they themselves are targeted by the Israeli army, which aims to prevent them from documenting and reporting violations. Al Danaf says that the Israeli military has attacked dozens of journalists in its war on Gaza even though they were clearly identifiable in vests and helmets marked “press.”
“The fact is that every time we hear of a journalist being targeted, and his camera stops filming, we feel great sadness and frustration,” he said. Al Danaf says that more than once, he thought stopping photography and staying with his family. But he always returns to his camera and the field, “because the Israeli army seeks to impose this reality, a media blackout, so that it can commit its crimes against civilians silently.”
She screamed at my camera: “My children died while they were hungry!'”
“International law has failed to protect journalists in Gaza, even though it confirms that the deliberate, direct targeting of journalists constitutes the killing of the truth and represents a war crime. But Israel does not care about international law,” he said.
As of May 11, 2024, 143 Palestinian journalists had been killed in Gaza, according to the enclave’s media office. Al Danaf lost his close friend and colleague, photojournalist Mustafa Thuraya, who was killed along with fellow journalist Hamza Al-Dahdouh in an Israeli drone strike in January.
Unforgettable scenes
Some scenes are forever burned in Al Danaf’s memory, including that of a Palestinian mother heartbroken by the death of her children, “She screamed at my camera as if she was directing her words to the world: ‘My children died while they were hungry!'”
Another image he cannot forget is that of a man released from Israel’s detention, who detailed how he had been tortured and mistreated by Israeli troops, who threatened to rape his wife and daughters.
“Behind my camera, I was shocked. I almost burst into tears,” he said. “Photojournalists are human beings before everything else.”
