“After losing my leg in the war, I returned to photojournalism Not only for work, but because I love photography from childhood, ”says Palestinian reporter Sami Shahada.
Shahada lost her leg due to a serious injury she suffered in Nuseirat, in the center of Gaza, in April 2024, but took her camera and returned to document the tragic events that have been developing in the strip.
The journalist will not let his disability prevent him from working. “It is impossible for photoperiodism to leave, even if I face all these obstacles.”comments.
This weekend the world press freedom Dayfocused on the role of the media to highlight responsibility, justice, equality and human rights. Along these lines, Palestinian journalists have documented personal risks and traumas to those who face by informing from a gaza devastated by war.
Since October 7, 2023, the UN has independently verified the Murder of 211 journalists in Gazaincluding 28 women. According to the UNESCOat least 47 died while exercising their work. April 29, 2025, 49 Palestinian journalists remain detained in Israeli prisonsaccording to the Palestinian commission of detainees and exempted.
“Los Press vests have gone from being a protection to become attack targets”, Denounces a journalist to the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Journalists above all
In one leg, leaning on crutches, Sami Shahada remains behind her camera, with her blue press jacket, working with his colleagues among the debris of destruction.
“I witnessed all the crimes that occurred, and then the time came when I witnessed a crime that was perpetrated against me,” he explains,
«I was a field journalist, he wore a camera in an open area and wore a helmet and a jacket that They identified me as a journalist, and yet I was directly attacked”.
That incident marked a turning point in his life. “Before I didn’t need anyone’s help, now I need it.”
“I have the determination and persistence necessary to overcome this new reality. This is how journalists in Gaza should work.”
The streets are your offices
The journalist Mohammed Abu Namous It is also an example of this.
Filming with one of his colleagues among the rubble of a destroyed building in the city of Gaza, he comments: “While the world celebrates World Press Freedom Day, the Palestinian journalists remember their workplaces, destroyed in war”.
“The minimum we need to carry out our journalistic work is electricity and the Internet, but many do not have it, so we turn to commercial stores that provide us with the Internet. The streets are now our offices.”
In his opinion, the Palestinian journalists have been the target of attacks during the Israeli occupation of Gaza.
He affirms that the media workers must be protected “whether they work in Palestine and in any other part of the world.”
Their voices will not be silenced: “Comply with our mission”
The journalist MoAMen Sharia He says there was lost to family members in an Israeli bombing In northern Gaza. Despite “the many negative impacts on a personal, social and humanitarian level, professionally nothing has changed”.
Sharafi was determined to continue working, since he had to broadcast live from the streets of the city of Gaza.
“We are more determined to continue our workto maintain our professional values and fulfill our mission with humanity to the world: Transmit the reality of what is happening on the ground Within Gaza, specifically the humanitarian situation, and the impact on children, women and the elderly, who suffer greatly, ”he explains.
Free journalism: an essential public good
“The Freedom of people depends on the freedom of the press. Free and independent journalism is an essential public good, ”says the UN Secretary General, António Guterres. “When journalists can’t work, we all lose.”
“Unfortunately, Every year this work becomes more difficult. And more dangerous, ”Guterres continues, since journalists face aggressions, arrests, censorship, acts of intimidation and violence and even death” simply to do their job. “
In addition, the artificial intelligence presents a challenge, which “can Promote freedom of expression, or quell it”.
Finally, “biased algorithms, shameless lies and hate discourse are land mines on the information highway. The precise, verifiable and objective information is the best tool to disable them,” says Guterres.
