Reporting from Gaza: The citizen journalists struggling to survive as they live their story

The stories of three citizen journalists in Gaza whose daily reporting is also their reality, as Martha Fairlie reports

Newsgathering by Roohi Hasan, Senior Producer, words by Rachel Dixon, Multimedia Producer

For journalists who call the Gaza Strip home, the conflict is not just a story to tell, or a job they can leave at the end of the day - it is their life.

While they report on airstrikes, starvation and hospitals under siege, they are also fearing missiles and struggling through Israel's blockades on the territory.

But as the conflict continues to worsen, they are still determined to find a way to record and report from Gaza to the outside world.

Millions of people are using social media to consume news and check updates on the war through posts made by journalists and people living in the territory.

This style of reporting and citizen journalism is giving social media users a personal insight to the day-to-day lives of Palestinians and a glimpse at the violence they face.

Many global news outlets have also been using their content, as Israel has not allowed world's media into Gaza since the fighting broke out.

Photojournalist Motaz Azaiza, who also works with the United Nations (UN), has been sharing images and reels (short videos) to his Instagram multiple times a day since the fighting began.

As a result, his following has gone from a few thousand to 17 million in just two months.

Shocking videos of people bleeding, screaming, even clips of Mr Azaiza running through dust and rubble as airstrike sirens blare out, are all posted on his account.

Meanwhile, filmmaker Bisan Owda is living through the horrors of the daily fight to stay safe, which has become the reality for thousands of Gazans.

In one video, she holds a flimsy tarpaulin over her head while rain hammers down on her.

Through tears she says: " Hundreds of thousands of people are living in tents or on the streets, I am one of them."

While she may joke with her followers about the war giving her "grey hair", she hopes her content on the Israeli army's impact on Gaza is what people are really paying attention to.

She has also been highlighting the attacks on Palestinian cultural heritage sites like Gaza’s largest mosque, The Great Mosque.

But it is not just journalists determined to tell the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.

Before October, Oday Basheer was an IT student, now he is a citizen journalist who is telling stories of suffering as he struggles alongside his people.

In one video, he said: "I can’t grieve as I'm spending time getting food and water for the family

"A little boy told me I am hungry - his grandmother and him haven’t eaten in two days.

"People are dying because of starvation and because of thirst."

Nearly 19,500 have been killed in Gaza since fighting began on October 7, according to the Hamas-led health ministry, and journalists are no exception. Thousands more are missing, presumed dead under the rubble and tens of thousands have been injured.  

The Committee to Protect Journalists says, 64 journalists have been killed since the conflict erupted between Hamas and Israel: 57 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese journalists.

The groups says this is a record number of journalists killed in one conflict since records first began.

This is all too prominent in the minds of the journalists reporting from Gaza.

In one recent post, Motaz Azaiza said: "I hope this is not my last video... No one is safe, no place in Gaza is safe."

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