Journalist Motaz Azaiza showed the world what Palestinians endure in war. Now he’s left Gaza

WARNING: This story includes disturbing content.

An independent Palestinian photojournalist whose social media coverage of the war in Gaza gave millions of people around the world a view of life and death in the besieged territory, has evacuated after surviving 108 days of reporting amid relentless bombings and battles. 

Motaz Azaiza covered Israel’s destructive bombardments of the Palestinian territory since Israel declared war against Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 militant attacks on Israeli communities. 

In a video posted on his social media accounts Tuesday, Azaiza told his nearly 20 million followers he was laying down his blue “Press” flak jacket — for now. His caption read that he had to leave Gaza “for a lot of reasons,” but he did not explain further.  

“I’m sorry but, inshallah (God willing), hopefully soon I will come back … and help build Gaza again,” he said in the video before sharing farewells with friends and colleagues surrounding him. 

Azaiza persisted in documenting the brutal reality in Gaza despite the risks to his own life and as dozens of other journalists lost their lives or had loved ones killed in Israeli military attacks. The Committee to Protect Journalists last month accused the Israeli military of “an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families” — which the Israeli government denies.

He departed for Qatar hours after his post, aboard a Qatari military aircraft, from Egypt’s El Arish International Airport, about 45 kilometres east of the Rafah border crossing to Gaza — the territory’s sole entry-exit point.

In a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, after arriving in Qatar, Azaiza said there was “no time to rest” and that he hoped to continue his work. 

WATCH | Reporters Without Borders warns about safety of journalists in Gaza: 

Israel-Hamas war results in deadliest month for journalists

Last month was the deadliest month on record for journalists in a war zone, according to a report from Reporters Without Borders. The report also says Israel is eradicating journalism in the territory and not ensuring the safety of journalists covering the conflict, something required by international humanitarian law.

Outside journalists not allowed into Gaza

As he did most every day for 16 weeks prior, Azaiza spent his final day with his mobile phone and DSLR cameras focused on what was happening on the ground in Gaza. 

According to videos he shared on X, he visited an operating room at the Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, where doctors with the humanitarian organization MedGlobal performed surgery on an explosion victim. 

Since the first Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza, Azaiza has depicted the terror and anguish Palestinian civilians have experienced, along with occasional moments of calm amid an unrelenting catastrophe.

He became a go-to voice for people seeking first-hand reporting from Gaza. Israel has largely prevented outside journalists from entering the territory with the exception of those who have embedded with the Israel Defence Forces. 

His Instagram account grew from a reported 25,000 followers before the outset of the violence to more than 18.2 million — more followers than U.S. President Joe Biden’s official account on the platform. 

One of his photos, an image of a young girl trapped in the rubble of a home the Israeli military bombed in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp on Oct. 31, was chosen as one of Time magazine’s top 10 photographs of 2023. 

“I go out in the day to cover and take pictures, but I hate mentioning what I have been through,” he told Time. “I take pictures and record some videos on my phone; I post it and don’t look back to it. It’s not something human. 

GQ Middle East also named Azaiza its “Man of the Year” for 2023 for his “unwavering courage,” saying he “became a global figure, a vehicle of resilience, and the embodiment of hope for the people of Gaza and for the rest of us around the world.”

Hind Khoudary, one of the Palestinian journalists seen sending off Azaiza, called him “an incredible friend and brother,” saying in an Instagram post that his “actions towards Palestine and Gaza set a unique mark in history.” 

Gaza journalists at risk

Azaiza’s departure from Gaza follows other high-profile Palestinian journalists exiting the war zone, as the conflict persists with few signs of the violence letting up.

Last week, Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh left for medical treatment in Qatar, where the Arabic and English news network is based, after the 53-year-old was injured in an Israeli drone strike. His colleague, Al Jazeera camera operator Samer Abu Daqqa, was killed in the same attack.

Dahdouh’s 27-year-old son, fellow Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Dahdouh, was killed along with another young journalist a week earlier, in the southern Gaza city Khan Younis, when an Israeli airstrike hit the vehicle they were travelling in, the news outlet reported.

The veteran reporter had already endured his wife being killed in October, along with his 15-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter and a young grandson, when an Israeli airstrike hit the home in southern Gaza where they were sheltering after fleeing from the north.

As of Tuesday, the same day Azaiza left Gaza, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has documented 76 journalists and media personnel killed in the territory since Oct. 7, based on information from its sources in the region and media reports, while other tallies put the toll higher than 100.

The organization also documented three journalists killed by Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, as well as four Israeli journalists killed by militants in the Oct. 7 attacks.

Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 civilians and soldiers in the attacks on Israel, according to the Israeli government. More than 25,000 people in Gaza have been killed since, Palestinian health authorities said in an update on Monday. That toll includes an estimated 16,000 women and children, according to the United Nations agency for gender equality.