This article was originally written in Arabic and has been translated into English with the assistance of AI tools and edited to ensure clarity and accuracy.

With a phone camera, Abboud Battah appears every day from northern Gaza, documenting the crimes of the occupation in a language that is not devoid of spontaneity that led to his being arrested. When the Israeli occupation closed Gaza to the international press, killed journalists, and targeted their headquarters, the voice of the citizen journalist remained a witness to the killing and genocidal war.

The piercing buzz of a quadcopter drone cuts through the sky. Moments later, Musab Al-Sharif stands frozen between a bomb that has exploded—leaving his journalist friend Fadi paralyzed—and the looming shadow of death, which he narrowly escapes.

Amid the horrors of war, Musab’s voice rises, describing the bitter reality of life in Gaza and the urgent necessity of citizen journalism. He reflects: “I realized the world wouldn’t see our suffering unless we documented it ourselves. This isn’t just a camera; it’s the voice of Gaza’s anguish.”

Media Exodus

In early November 2023, the Israeli occupation escalated its genocidal campaign in Gaza. The intensifying violence forced numerous journalists and media institutions to abandon northern Gaza and seek refuge in areas like southern Wadi Gaza, deemed “safer” zones.

From the outset of the war, it was clear that journalists were being deliberately targeted. News offices were bombed live on air, resulting in the deaths of several journalists. This led media organizations to relocate southward to protect their staff, effectively halting most coverage of the northern region. The absence of reporters left the world blind to the atrocities and massacres unfolding in Gaza.

Bridging the Media Gap

Faced with the challenges of traditional journalism in Gaza and the north, ordinary citizens stepped in. Those with smartphones equipped with eSIM internet connectivity became the primary storytellers, capturing photos and videos of events. This movement arose after the occupation cut communication and internet lines, turning civilians into the primary sources of news in northern Gaza.

Out of this necessity emerged "citizen journalism"—a critical tool to bridge the media gap and disseminate the truth. Individuals began documenting events and broadcasting them live on social media, ensuring their voices reached the world despite attempts at blackout.

The cameras of ordinary people transformed into tools of resistance, capturing crimes committed against civilians. Northern Gaza became a theater of destruction and death, and its residents understood that the responsibility to share their stories with the world rested on their shoulders alone.

A Collective Responsibility

Citizens armed themselves with cameras and phones, documenting every moment of the war. They captured scenes of destruction and death, defying the Israeli-imposed ban on international journalists entering Gaza. In doing so, citizen journalism became an irreplaceable window into the tragedy, narrating heartbreaking stories from the depths of suffering and exposing the truths that the occupation sought to conceal by any means necessary.

Through every frame and every broadcast, citizen journalists revealed the unvarnished reality of Gaza—ensuring that, despite the suppression, the voice of its people would echo far and wide.

Citizen journalism has become the unblinking lens of the people. With simple efforts and modest tools, citizen journalists have succeeded in documenting tragedies and delivering the truth to the world

The Birth of Citizen Journalism

In the vacuum left by traditional journalism, ordinary citizens in Gaza rose to the challenge, wielding smartphones equipped with eSIMs as their primary tools for documentation. As the occupation severed communication and internet lines in an attempt to enforce a media blackout, these citizens became the sole chroniclers of the unfolding tragedy.

This grassroots movement gave rise to "citizen journalism"—a vital means of bridging the media gap and delivering unfiltered truths. Equipped with nothing more than phones and determination, individuals captured and shared real-time images and videos on social media, breaking through the wall of silence.

The lenses of ordinary citizens became tools of resistance, recording war crimes and atrocities committed against civilians. Northern Gaza, a landscape of devastation, witnessed its residents assume the role of witnesses, documenting their plight and transmitting it to the world. It was a collective realisation that the responsibility to tell their stories lay solely with them.

What is "Citizen Journalism"?

Citizen journalism is defined as "the participation of ordinary citizens in documenting and reporting events, assuming the role of journalists even without formal qualifications in media or journalism. It relies on simple tools such as phone cameras and other readily accessible devices."

Journalism professor Mohsen Al-Ifranji describes citizen journalism as “a significant phenomenon that has evolved, particularly in the Arab world after the Arab Spring.” He emphasizes that all a citizen journalist needs is “a phone to capture images and write posts on social media, thereby engaging in journalistic work, though not necessarily adhering to professional standards.”

According to Al-Ifranji, the genocide in Gaza has demonstrated the capacity of citizens to deliver immediate, raw coverage directly from the field to newsrooms, bypassing traditional barriers.

Voices from the Frontline: Citizen Journalists in Action

During the ongoing war, a number of young activists emerged as prominent voices, bringing the reality of Gaza’s suffering to a global audience. These individuals used social media platforms to detail the daily experiences of bombings, displacement, and destruction.

One such figure, Aboud Batah, gained recognition for his candid, on-the-ground reporting style from within the besieged northern Gaza. However, his courageous efforts came at a cost. Aboud was detained by Israeli forces for eight hours, during which he faced death threats and intimidation for posting videos and photos online. His vivid documentation of Gaza’s grim reality—shared on platforms like Instagram—earned him widespread attention and admiration.

Likewise, activist Musab Al-Sharif emerged as one of the most prominent faces of citizen journalism in Gaza, after documenting a significant number of photos and videos that gained widespread attention on social media, with some exceeding millions of views.

Musab says: “I realized that the world would not see our suffering unless we documented it ourselves. This is not just a camera; it is the voice of Gaza’s anguish.”

Musab recounts details he described as terrifying. He was standing next to his journalist friend Fadi Al-Wahidi, with the lens capturing scenes of destruction around them, when suddenly the sound of a “quadcopter” drone pierced the air. Moments later, it dropped a bomb close to them, turning the area into a mass of smoke and dust.

He continues with a voice full of sorrow: “The bomb was just centimeters away from me. At that moment, I felt that death was closer than ever before. I survived by a miracle, but Fadi was left completely paralyzed after a piece of shrapnel pierced his neck and lodged there.”

As the scale of Israeli crimes increased and the media distortion campaigns by the occupation army intensified, the phones of these activists became tools to expose the occupation and convey the voices of those under siege to the world. They affirmed that technology and determination are capable of breaking the media blockade.

However, power and internet outages, lack of equipment, and ongoing suppression efforts posed challenges equivalent to the imminent dangers faced by citizen journalists during the Gaza war.

Challenges of Citizen Journalism in Gaza

While citizen journalism has proven indispensable, it comes with immense challenges, including:

Life-Threatening Risks

Citizen journalists often find themselves directly targeted. Many documented bombings as shells rained down around them, risking their lives to reveal the unvarnished truth.

Limited Resources

Most tools at their disposal are outdated phones or small, inexpensive cameras. Yet, despite these constraints, they succeeded in producing impactful footage capable of resonating with international audiences.

Communication Blackouts

Israel’s deliberate severance of electricity and internet services created significant obstacles to uploading and sharing media content.

Lack of Professional Training

Most citizens involved in documentation had no training in report writing or professional photography. However, their spontaneity and authenticity gave their materials exceptional impact.

Citizen Journalists' materials were not merely records of violations—they contributed to the internationalization of the Palestinian cause and spurred action from numerous human rights and media organizations.

Footage of children trapped under rubble, homeless families, and bodies buried beneath the ruins became part of the narrative that citizen journalists managed to share, challenging the Israeli media machine. These materials were not merely records of violations—they contributed to the internationalization of the Palestinian cause and spurred action from numerous human rights and media organizations.

Simple cameras became effective tools of resistance, exposing the false narratives of the occupation and affirming the justice of the Palestinian cause.

A Lifeline for International Media

Despite their lack of formal expertise, citizen journalists in Gaza managed to collaborate with several international media outlets. The videos and reports they produced were broadcast by major channels like Al Jazeera and Western media networks, demonstrating the profound global impact these materials could achieve.

Media outlets have increasingly come to rely on citizen journalism as an indispensable source, particularly in regions inaccessible to their teams. These partnerships have shed light on the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, while also empowering citizen journalists to convey their messages to a global audience.

Abdullah Shahwan, who worked in design and video editing before the war, found himself facing what he described as a "national and moral duty." Using his phone camera, he documented the crimes of the occupation, and his footage quickly became a source for numerous news agencies. He later joined Al Jazeera Mubasher as a cameraman.

Abdullah explains: “After many journalists fled, I began documenting our experiences despite the dangers of movement and travel. I worked with minimal resources and often borrowed equipment from colleagues after their shifts to complete my coverage.”

News channels and digital platforms relied on photos and videos captured by citizens in both northern and southern Gaza, documenting daily life under bombardment and within makeshift camps.

Citizen journalism proved pivotal during the coverage of "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood," especially in delivering information to displaced residents about the status of their homes, streets, and relatives in the north. Some activists took it upon themselves to film streets, shops, and local markets for their displaced owners, in addition to documenting harrowing atrocities at sites like Al-Shifa Hospital and the Baptist Hospital. Often, the cries of the wounded reached the world through citizen journalists before traditional media could even arrive at the scene.

News channels and digital platforms relied on photos and videos captured by citizens in both northern and southern Gaza, documenting daily life under bombardment and within makeshift camps. These images conveyed heartbreaking stories: a child crying from hunger, a girl wishing to return to the north where her father remains trapped, or a mother bidding farewell to her martyred family members before returning to her tent to finish cooking. These poignant, authentic human stories powerfully communicated the message of Gaza's people with sincerity and spontaneity.

Citizen journalism has become the unblinking lens of the people. With simple efforts and modest tools, citizen journalists have succeeded in documenting tragedies and delivering the truth to the world. They have proven that the truth cannot be erased, and that the voice of the people, no matter how forcefully silenced, will always find a way to be heard.

In every photo and video from Gaza, the message is unmistakably clear: “We are here, and this is the undeniable truth.”