"For nearly two years, Gaza has been the deadliest place in the world for journalists. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, hundreds of reporters and media workers have been killed since October 2023, an unprecedented toll in modern conflict. Those who survive continue documenting the devastation while living it themselves, often with the knowledge that rather than being a safeguard, wearing a press vest makes them a target."
"Among them is Plestia Alaqad, one of the most widely influential reporters to emerge from Gaza during the war. Just 21 years old and freshly graduated from university on Oct. 7, 2023, Alaqad began broadcasting dispatches that reached millions on social media, offering the world a rare window into daily life under bombardment as the strip remained closed to foreign journalists."
"What begins as raw, poetic notes on survival evolves into a haunting chronicle of a people's collective experience under unrelenting siege. Alaqad writes with an intimacy that pulls readers close: photographing children in U.N. Relief and Works Agency shelters as she tries to make them laugh; hearing voices cry for help from beneath the rubble and knowing there is nothing I can do; choosing to leave her mother behind to reduce the risk to her as journalists are targeted."
For nearly two years Gaza has been the deadliest place in the world for journalists, with hundreds of reporters and media workers killed since October 2023. Survivors continue to document devastation while living it themselves, aware that press vests can make them targets. Plestia Alaqad, 21, emerged as an influential Gaza reporter after Oct. 7, broadcasting dispatches that reached millions and offering a rare window into daily life under bombardment. Her forthcoming book, The Eyes of Gaza: A Diary of Resilience, turns private diaries into a chronicle of collective experience under siege, blending moments of horror with intimate, humanizing reprieves.
Read at Slate Magazine
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