Gaza's Truth-Tellers

Thanks to the voices of intrepid young journalists in Gaza, the world now knows the stories of its people by heart

- Sara Ather

VISUALS are beyond any metaphor that language can offer. Visuals of a father, in a desperate frenzy, gathering the bloody remnants of his children in grocery bags or another collecting shattered limbs at a bombarded hospital. Images of a parent scouring through rubble in search of his four missing children. Or the heart-wrenching sight of a grandfather kissing the eyes of his dead granddaughter, bidding her a final farewell.

Ever since the declaration of war on the Gaza Strip— home to over two million people—Israel has blocked all supplies of water, food, electricity and fuel into the region. Two telecommunications towers have also been bombed, impeding internet access, isolating the Strip and rendering the entire area almost unliveable.

Despite limited internet connectivity and electricity, Gazan journalists and citizens have managed to record and upload thousands of videos and images, putting the unspeakable horror unleashed in Gaza on display to the world.

The magnitude of the crisis in Gaza overwhelms language. As we witness the unfolding of this war through our television and mobile screens, an unprecedented shift in world opinion is also taking place. It’s a moment unlike any other in the extensive history of colonialism. The narrative traditionally established by the Western world is encountering an unanticipated erosion of credibility. Remarkably, a besieged strip of land, nearly cut off from communication channels, has somehow managed to debunk the grand claims of the most powerful men in the world.

Now, as the world aches for Gaza and marches for its people, it also knows the stories of its people by heart. Thanks to a miscalculation on the part of Israel, which failed to anticipate the voices of young journalists in Gaza, who paraded the former’s excesses on the world stage.