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In his recent video on Instagram, Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza confirmed that he would be leaving the Gaza Strip.
He had been documenting the Israeli Occupation’s attacks on the strip by sharing video clips.
Earlier, Azaiza mentioned that he had received numerous threats from the Israeli Occupation, to get him to stop exposing their crimes, depicting the war in Gaza, shedding light on the suffering of Gaza’s residents, and leaving Gaza in exchange for a comfortable life.
Azaiza is one of the Palestinian journalists and activists who have garnered a large number of social media followers for showing the tragic events Gazans have gone through since October 7, capturing the destruction as a result of the continuous bombardment by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in Gaza.
Earlier in October, Palestinians, who were relatives of Azaiza, were killed in IOF’s shelling in the Azaiza Street area in Deir al-Balah, Gaza.
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Azaiza has been one of the key media forces in the besieged Gaza Strip, bringing live updates of the Israel-Hamas war to his more than 18 million followers on Instagram and over a million on X.
“This is the last time you will see me with this heavy, stinky vest,” Azaiza said in an Instagram video, pointing to his blue press vest, often used by journalists in war zones to identify themselves as non-combatants.
The photojournalist said he was sorry to leave Gaza and that he was hopeful to return to help rebuild the enclave. In the video, he is surrounded by his close friends and family members, who are seen helping him remove his press vest and embracing him as he bids goodbye to Gaza.
Millions around the world have been witnessing the war in Gaza through the lens of Palestinians sharing their daily realities on social media. These citizen journalists, through their posts on Instagram and X, have put a face to the conflict.
Their followers have developed a strong emotional connection with them in return.
Azaiza’s Instagram posts are often flooded with comments asking about his well-being, more so when he hasn’t posted on his social media for a while. He has often posted videos and gone live on his Instagram documenting Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, where he can be seen sheltering amid the rubble of demolished homes.
Azaiza’s work initially focused on photographing everyday life in Gaza, before he began covering Israel’s wars on Gaza in 2014 and 2021. His Instagram following has grown exponentially – from 25,000 to 18 million – in just over 100 dayssince Israel began its military campaign in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack.
“Remember that we’re not content to be shared, we are a nation that is getting killed and we’re trying not to be ethnically cleansed,” he said in a recent post.
Other prominent journalists in Gaza include Plestia Alaqad, a 21-year-old woman from Gaza who shares daily first-person updates and candidly answers questions form her nearly 5 million followers, Bisan Owda, a Palestinian filmmaker and activist, Doaa Mohammad, a photographer and Hind Khoudary, a Palestinian journalist.
