When Abubaker Abed, a journalist from Deir el-Balah in Gaza, arrived last month in Ireland, he wasn’t just fleeing a war. He was escaping a death sentence.
For nearly 18 months, the 27-year-old reporter lived and worked in Gaza under unrelenting Israeli bombardment. He documented lives erased, communities flattened, and a world that stopped listening. Now, far from the explosions and mass graves, he speaks in slow, steady sentences that mask the weight he carries.
“I didn’t want to leave,” Abed says. “But it wasn’t just about me anymore. My name was on their list. My mother told me, ‘You’re putting all of us at risk.’ So I packed my bag and left.”
From Football to Frontlines
Abed didn’t begin as a war reporter. In earlier years, his journalism covered sports—local football, athletes, youth stories. But everything changed in October 2023 when the Israeli military launched its most prolonged and devastating assault on Gaza.
He picked up his camera and notebook and joined hundreds of Palestinian journalists working with limited electricity, no safety, and a single purpose: document everything.
“I thought it was my duty to stay,” he says. “To tell the truth, even if it cost me my life.”
“We Had to Bury 800 People in a Single Day”
The numbers are hard to grasp until you hear them from someone who was there.
“One day we buried 800 people,” he says quietly. “They came in bags, blankets, pieces. Most of them weren’t whole.”
He describes waking to the sound of airstrikes on March 18. “Four missiles hit our street. The sky went red. Our house shook. Then it went grey. And quiet. That kind of quiet you know means people have died.”
He and his family joined thousands fleeing to Rafah. A 12-kilometer journey became a slow crawl through ruins.
“People were digging through rubble, collecting water from broken pipes. Children stood barefoot in dust. Everything smelled like fire.”
Hunted for Telling the Truth
Abed’s reporting gained attention. With it came threats.
“They said I was a Hamas journalist. That I was a liar. Then they started circulating my photo. They said I should be killed.”
It wasn’t just anonymous online abuse. His name began appearing on right-wing Israeli social media accounts. His editors warned him to stop reporting. His family begged him to leave.
Eventually, it became clear: if he stayed, he would be killed.
“I left with one bag. No plan. Just survival.”
A Community Erased
He talks about a friend—a journalist—who was killed while helping displaced families. “He didn’t even own a weapon. They said he was a threat because of a photo he took years ago. That was enough.”
Hospitals, universities, bakeries, libraries—gone. “But worse than the buildings are the people. The children who will never grow up. The teachers who will never teach again.”
He doesn’t just mourn what was lost. He is haunted by what was allowed.
“The World Forgot Us”
Now in Dublin, Abed finds himself surrounded by peace—and silence.
“I’ve been to three Friday prayers in Ireland. Not once did they mention Gaza. Not even a word.”
It’s the silence that cuts deepest, he says. “People watched it happen. And they looked away.”
He is not asking for charity. Or sympathy. He’s asking for memory. For moral clarity.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t know. You knew. You all knew.”
Gaza’s Future
Can Gaza be rebuilt?
“The buildings? Maybe. Over decades. But you can’t rebuild the dead. You can’t replace them.”
He doesn’t see Gaza as lost, but he warns that the real loss may be our collective conscience.
“Gaza isn’t lost,” he says. “But the world’s humanity might be.”
Journalists and Civilians Killed in Gaza
Journalists Killed
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), nearly 200 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023 — the deadliest period for media professionals in the modern history of conflict reporting. Most were Palestinian, and many were killed while working, sometimes alongside their families.
Civilian Death Toll
As of June 2025:
- Over 70,000 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF, according to Gaza health officials.
- More than 100,000 are wounded.
- The majority of casualties are women and children.
- 40,000+ children are estimated to have been orphaned.
- Over 94% of Gaza’s hospitals have been destroyed or rendered non-operational.
Destroyed Infrastructure
- More than half of Gaza’s residential buildings have been flattened by Israel.
- Power stations, water infrastructure, schools, and bakeries have been systematically bombed.
- According to UN estimates, 1.7 million people are now internally displaced.
