Plestia Alaqad on Gaza: ‘You don’t have time to cry’ | Real Talk - Online

“The hardest things I saw, the camera didn’t see.”

At 22 years old, Plestia Alaqad found herself covering Israel’s bombardment of her own people last October, as she and other Palestinian journalists endured an ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza.

Through their coverage, they exposed to the world what was happening in Gaza.

For weeks, Alaqad’s coverage documented a raw account of the bombing and destruction of her own people, and showed the world the massive humanitarian toll that Israel’s assault has had on Gaza.

As many media outlets were shut out from Gaza, she and other Gaza-based journalists gained a following that rivalled or surpassed traditional media outlets. She now has almost 5 million followers on Instagram.

Weeks after evacuating Gaza, Alaqad joins us from Australia where she now resides to speak about her experience on Real Talk - Online.

#RealTalk is a Middle East Eye interview show hosted by Mohamed Hashem that delves into the stories and experiences of a diverse range of guests.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:51 Plestia’s journalism background
02:11 Covering the war on Gaza
04:29 Nearly 5 million followers
05:51 Afraid of dealing with media
07:05 ‘The hardest things I saw’
08:13 Conversations with her parents
09:34 Do you re-watch videos you posted?
11:12 ‘I didn’t have time to feel emotions’
12:48 Leaving Gaza
13:56 From one extreme to another
15:53 Western media and Gaza

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