AWARD-WINNING journalist Youmna El-Sayed, who has been covering the war in Gaza as an Al Jazeera correspondent, visiting South Africa for a few days and speaks during a media briefing in Sandton about the war. | TIMOTHY BERNARD Independent Newspapers
Al Jazeera English correspondent, Youmna El-Sayed, who is in South Africa until next month, has detailed the atrocities that befell and continue to befall the people of Palestine since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip.
Even though the current atrocities could be said to have started on October 7 when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack on Israel on the day, El-Sayed said this was a retaliation over many years of brutality against the people of Palestine, who to this day continue to suffer at the hands of Israel’s bombardment.
“I spent three months inside Palestine when scores were being evacuated with their families. I only left because I had lost my soul inside Gaza and went out because this was only option to save my children. I have been displaced more than six times and escaped the continued horrors due to lack of water and food. You had to choose to continue with your career or focus on being a mother -hence I left.
“The only thing that can help me to survive this survival guilt is to continue speaking from outside Gaza, which is why I continue to speak,” she told members of the media gathered at the Hyatt Place Hotel in Sandton on Wednesday.
El-Sayed said the media was doing the world a disservice by not reporting genuinely about the issues and the extent of the war on the thousands of victims, including children who have died since the start of the war.
“What people don’t realise is that October 7 was first reaction by Hamas to Israel’s continued attacks which span many decades and the Western world looked at it as action not realising that prior to that, there were decades of atrocities that were ignored and were not covered with interest. These were neglected the abuses which are a reality of history and facts. Israel’s narrative has been debunked over and over again, as it not based on fact and historical context,” she said.
El-Sayed, an Egyptian-Palestinian journalist, who over eight years has braved her own life and that of her family, was forced out of Gaza three months after reporting on the war.
Since then, more than 160 journalists and media practitioners have been killed by an unforgiving regime that continues to wreak havoc on the lives of children and civilians.
El-Sayed said being a journalist does not guarantee one any form of protection as there have been many instances where journalists were killed while wearing identifiable regalia.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, as of April 5 this year, the war in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon has claimed the lives of 108 Palestinian, three Lebanese and two Israeli journalists while last month (July 2024), the figures by the Gaza government media office has placed the number of Palestinian journalists killed at 160.
“There have been many instances where journalists have been shot 300 metres from the security fence... West Bank residents are not allowed into Gaza. You need to find a third place and live there if you want to be reunited with your family. My eldest child is 13 and was born in open air prison and continues to live in open air prison where electricity is guaranteed only for 8 hours a day,” she said.
El-Sayed said she has pursued journalism as a passion rather than as a component of her academic education. She has urged the media to open their eyes to the realities of the Palestinian people and through her talks, continues to be a voice for the silenced people of Palestine.
The Star
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