This is Al Jazeera’s Youmna El Sayed’s harrowing, nearly three hour account of all that she witnessed while covering Gaza.
Youmna El Sayed has reported from Gaza for more than a decade. She was in Gaza on 7 October when Hamas attacked Israel and then remained in Gaza covering Israel's assault on the strip. In this in-depth conversation over nearly three hours she recollects events as she remembers them unfolding. From waking to the sound of rockets being fired into Israel on 7 October, to then finding herself and her family forcibly displaced five times in the ensuing bombardment as she covered the war.
She speaks about the scarcity of food and water, losing colleagues who were killed, needing to evacuate her family while fearing for their lives, literally stepping over the remains of dead bodies, and so much more
Through all of the above El Sayed continued her work as a journalist for Al Jazeera until she and her family managed to evacuate Gaza to Cairo, where they are presently living.
She also speaks about the challenges that now face her and her family and the residents of Gaza as many of them face a future where they do not know if they will ever be able to go back to their homes which now lie in ruins.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
01:10 what can you remember about October 7th
04:00 Going to the bureau and starting to cover the war
06:30 thoughts on what Israel's retaliation would have been
09:30 Preparing your family for what is going to happen
12:11 Not being able to be close to your family as bombs are falling on your neighbourhood
18:15 My kids we terrified, only able to sleep in my arms
20:12 Palestinians don't have choices, they just need to endure
23:23 Bombardments of the night vs bombardments of the day
26:44 Leaving home
37:06 Having no water or food
38:04 how what you see changes your soul
39:52 Bearing witness to what I never thought I would see
43:45 The child with the blue backpack
01:00:55 On Joe biden
01:09:24 Bombing Jabaliyah refugee camp and almost dying
01:14:17 If we die, we all die together as a family
01:17:38 anonymous call
01:24:39 we will be killed because of you
01:26:40 when I started to feel that I would be killed because I was a journalist
01:27:52 Youmna and family leave Gaza city for a 2nd time
01:32:29 taking shelter with 60 people in a small apartment building
01:39:57 bodies decomposing on roads and crossings
01:44:36 having conversations on leaving Gaza and where to go
01:52:26 Walking to Khan Younis with Wael Dahdouh
01:56:43 Walking through the corridor of death
02:00:39 ceasefire and going to the beach
02:05:44 Isreal begins ground operation in Khan Younis, going to Rafah
02:09:39 How Youmna and family left Gaza
02:14:38 having fate that they would be able to leave
02:17:08 adjusting to life in Cairo and PTSD
02:23:40 On losing Al Jazeera colleague and friends - Samer and Hamza
02:28:47 What if there is no Gaza to return to
02:32:48 Where will Palestinians in Gaza go to
02:34:05 Will Gaza be ethnically cleansed
02:37:19 What does accountability look like
02:41:00 consequences of there being no accountability
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