Motaz Azaiza, Gaza’s Most Beloved Journalist, Has Announced He Is Evacuating In A Tearful Video

Описание: Motaz Azaiza, a beloved 24-year-old Palestinian photojournalist in Gaza, has announced that he is evacuating.

Azaiza, who had previously focused on documenting daily life in Gaza, has emerged as one of the most recognized and iconic journalists in Gaza after Israel declared war on Hamas on Oct. 7.

Azaiza’s Instagram followers skyrocketed from 25,000 to more than 18.2 million in just over 100 days.

Throughout the war, Azaiza shared daily updates on-the-ground, providing a crucial and personal glimpse into the realities of the devastation in Gaza, raising concern for his wellbeing whenever he didn’t share an update for a few hours.

He risked his life several times to cover Israeli airstrikes, even being shot at by Israeli soldiers.

“Guys from my age around the world are busy with their careers, travel, their loved ones and planning for their future,” Azaiza wrote on Instagram in December. “Here you can’t even make a plan for the next 5 minutes. Everything we built, we dreamed about got demolished.”

In a tearful video on Tuesday Jan. 23, Azaiza announced he had made the heartbreaking decision to evacuate Gaza.

“This is the last time that you will see me in this heavy, stinky vest,” he said, referring to his blue press flak jacket, which he was seen wearing throughout the past 107 days.

“I decided to evacuate today, so I’m sorry,” Azaiza said. “But inshallah, hopefully soon I’ll come back to help build Gaza again.”

The camera then zooms out to show Azaiza’s family, friends and fellow journalists approaching him to help him take off his flak jacket.

“I’ll miss you guys,” Azaiza then says, giving them one final embrace.

“So, I had to evacuate for a lot of reasons you all know some of it but not all of it,” he wrote in his Instagram caption. “Thank you all. Pray for Gaza.”

Azaiza later shared on his Instagram Stories that he had evacuated to Qatar.

At least 83 journalists have been killed since the war began on Oct. 7, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

More journalists have been killed inthe first 10 weeks of the war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year, according to CPJ.
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