Palestine TV’s central control panel is full of screens and technicians are scrambling to coordinate the various broadcast points from Gaza and the West Bank. The work has been frenetic since the outbreak of the war and is especially hard on the public television of the Palestinian National Authority because Israel has already killed four members of its staff in the Strip, the last of them Mohamed Abu Hatab, one of the most respected faces of journalism in Gaza. It is the medium most punished by war.
To the left of the screen, a black crepe commemorates the fallen, a driver, two producers and the star reporter. Abu Hatab finished his live show on Thursday night, handed over to his partner Salmen Al Basheer and went home to rest for a few hours. His work shift since October 7 was from 5 in the morning to 10 at night. «He was a good person and very loved by everyone. He ended the connection and told the team that he would cook something for everyone and come back, but he didn’t give him time. Israel followed him, waited for him to enter his apartment and fired a missile directly at him and his family. “They all died,” recalls Mohamed Barguti, news director of the network and a personal friend of the reporter.
Journalists are in the spotlight and 36 informants have already died in this war, 31 of them Palestinians, four Israelis and one Lebanese, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). From Reporters Without Borders (RSF) of Spain, its president, Alfonso Bauluz, denounces that “in this century we had never witnessed such a carnage in a war with a professional Army and a State that calls itself democratic.”
Nothing protects professionals within the Strip. When Abu Hatab’s companions were waiting for him to return with some food, what they received was the body of him, his wife, his six children and brothers. Salmen Al Basheer couldn’t hold back his tears and in the middle of the show he took off his vest and helmet in front of the cameras because “we can’t take it anymore, we’re exhausted… They’re going to kill us, it’s just a matter of when.” There is no protection or impunity. These protective equipment do not protect us. “We lose lives, one by one… Mohammed Abu Hatab was here half an hour ago.”
Palestine TV has a staff of one thousand people and 400 of them are in the Strip. The deep political division between Gaza and the West Bank, between Hamas and Fatah, is experienced firsthand on this channel that works under the magnifying glass of the Islamist authorities, although “in times of war there is no time for those differences and our reporters work tirelessly. “Many have lost relatives, their homes and now live in hospitals, where we have the points for direct treatment,” explains Barguti.
The Israel Press Office (GPO) has more than 2,000 journalists from around the world accredited to follow the war, but access to Gaza is restricted. Teams from networks such as Fox and other Israeli media have had timely access to the front inside Gaza accompanying the Army. «If Israel does not allow the entry of aid or doctors, how is it going to allow journalists? They don’t want the world to see the effects of their bombings, they don’t want the world to see how they kill Palestinian women and children,” Barghuti thinks.
“A great loss”
The eyes of the world in Gaza are those of the Palestinian reporters who risk their lives every day doing their job. “No one protects us from Israel, we are totally defenseless,” says Mohamed Nofal, who has been a presenter on Palestine TV for 15 years and had daily contact with Abu Hatab. “We knew each other thanks to the telephone because due to Israel’s movement restrictions neither they can come to the West Bank, nor can we go to Gaza, but I felt very close to him, it is a great loss,” laments Nofal, who has no confidence that Those responsible for this death and that of the rest of the journalists will one day have to be held accountable before justice.
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