'Israel’s wars keep following me': Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad on her move to Lebanon

Plestia Alaqad, a Palestinian journalist, garnered international attention for her first-hand, daily accounts on social media when living in Gaza under Israel's bombardment.

She and her family fled the enclave via the Rafah crossing and headed to Australia.

Now, after moving to Lebanon to study and regain a sense of home, Plestia finds herself in a warzone once again.

Here, she writes for ITV News of the expanding violence and her own enduring trauma.

Israel keeps ruining my life.

I was forced to choose between staying in Gaza, where I could become one of the 41,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces*, or leaving my small part of Palestine and entering a world that doesn’t have space for me in it.

Moving to Australia felt like stepping into a completely different universe.

I was 12,263 km away from home, living seven hours ahead of Gaza. Everything felt surreal.

Instead of waking up to the sounds of bombs, I heard birds chirping. Instead of seeing drones in the sky, I saw stars.

I found myself surrounded by people dealing with problems I could not relate to - problems that felt trivial compared to the survival I had grown accustomed to.

Every morning, I woke up feeling lost, wondering what I was doing there.

Eventually, I decided to take control of my story. I needed to be somewhere that made sense to me, but I knew risks came with that.

I applied for a master’s in media and was fortunate to be awarded the Shireen Abu Akleh Scholarship at the American University of Beirut (AUB).

I felt a sense of purpose, a mission to continue sharing the story of my people and to bring attention to the injustices we face.

Since returning to Gaza was impossible, Lebanon seemed like the next best option.

I thought being closer to home would make me feel more grounded, and when I first arrived in Beirut, I finally felt like I belonged again. I am where I’m supposed to be.

However, what I never anticipated was finding myself trapped in yet another war zone, just weeks after starting this new chapter of my life.

It feels like every time I try to move forward, Israel drags me back into the cycle of displacement, and uncertainty.

I went from worrying if I would survive the next hour in Gaza, to worrying about my grades in my master’s program, only to be thrown back into worrying if I’ll survive another war - this time in Lebanon.

The cycle is relentless, and I feel trapped, caught in an endless loop of trauma.

I never had the mental space to fully process everything I experienced in Gaza.

In April, Plestia Alqad filmed herself through the reality of those living on the Gaza Strip as Israel send missiles into the area

Now, being in Lebanon, it feels like I’m reliving that trauma, but through the eyes of other innocent people.

Watching Lebanese civilians face the same displacement, fear, and loss that I endured is heartbreaking.

It makes me wonder why we live in a world where schools are used as shelters for the displaced, rather than places of learning for students?

Why we live in a world where genocide and wars are happening? Why do we study history in school if no one is learning from it?

*Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage.

Israel declared war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to the health ministry.

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