Gaza- At the age of ten, with great boldness and fluency in her tongue, and with her distinctive brown skin and innocent smile, the title of “the youngest journalist in Gaza” was associated with the child Lama Abu Jamous, who uses her accounts on social media platforms to document life in the Gaza Strip, in light of a fierce war that Israel has been waging since October 7. Last October.
Lama (9 years old) is the youngest in her family of 6 members. She was forced to flee from her home in the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City to the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, before she was forced to flee again to the city of Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt. Horrific crimes committed by the occupation forces, and warnings to residents of eviction and displacement.
During this war, unprecedented in its duration and ferocity in killing and destruction, the name of this child emerged from among hundreds of journalists and activists covering developments on the ground.
In the footsteps of Al-Dahdouh
Lama chose the “Instagram” and “Tik Tok” platforms to publish her reports, through which various aspects of the daily life of Palestinians under war, siege, and displacement appear. It was very popular, and within a short period of time, it gained hundreds of thousands of followers from around the world, and their comments had a great impact on motivating Lama. To continue.
The young journalist told Tel Aviv Tribune Net: “All the followers’ comments are encouraging, and people on the street have begun to know me and encourage me. Everyone tells me, ‘You are beautiful and you are wonderful,’ and I continue to grow and become a journalist for Tel Aviv Tribune.”
Lama is the youngest daughter of colleague Ahmed Abu Jamous, one of the employees of the Tel Aviv Tribune English channel in Gaza. She views the channel’s correspondent in Gaza, colleague Wael Al-Dahdouh, as a role model. She fulfilled her wish to meet him and conduct a press interview with him, which she published on her Instagram account and garnered about 12 million views. Views, more than 800 thousand likes and tens of thousands of comments.
In this interview, Al-Dahdouh responded to Lama’s request to send a message to the world, in which he said, “We are in historic and decisive moments, and our people are steadfast and steadfast and will emerge from the ordeal as long as there are people and children like you (like you) who smile.”
Since the beginning of the war, Lama has focused on following Wael and calls him “Uncle Abu Hamza” when talking about him, which is his nickname for his eldest son, who was martyred in an Israeli air strike that targeted him and his colleague Mustafa Thuraya in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. He followed his mother and other members of his family, who were martyred in an Israeli air strike. On the Nuseirat camp in the middle of the Strip.
In a sad tone, Lama spoke about Wael’s great loss to his family, and he himself survived an Israeli attack due to which Tel Aviv Tribune cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa was martyred. She said: “Uncle Wael paid the price for his wonderful coverage of the war and the occupation’s crimes against women and children, and I wish I could grow up and be like him.”
Lama appeared with other journalists and influencers on social media platforms, sharing with them coverage of developments in the war on Gaza, until she became a familiar face in the street, not only Palestinian, but internationally, after her experience was covered by major newspapers and television channels.
War through the eyes of a child
In addition to her daily follow-up of the war and its repercussions, and what is related to the siege and displacement, in order to choose the title that she will talk about, Lama finds all the support and encouragement from her father, who discovered in her when she was only two years old a great passion for speaking in front of the camera, and a love for people and expressing their concerns.
In her most recent field coverage, Lama stood in front of a “hospice” in the Shaboura refugee camp in the city of Rafah, and said: “We are a dear and generous people.” She was upset by the sight of men, women, and children crowding into a charitable hospice in order to obtain a free amount of food.
Lama says that she is interested in talking about people’s daily concerns as a result of the war, which forced them to leave their homes and live in tents on the streets and in schools.
This child, who presented herself at an early age as a journalist with a great future ahead of her, documented many crimes committed by the occupation army, and says that she wants the world to know what the residents of Gaza are exposed to, who are pursued by death in their homes, in hospitals, schools, and in the streets.
One of these crimes left a deep wound for Lama, who lost her aunt and all her family members in an Israeli air strike that destroyed the house above their heads in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. She wonders: “When will the world start taking action and stop this death?!”
Freedom and security
With the words “freedom and security,” Lama expressed her wishes and aspirations, saying: “We are a people who deserve to live like the peoples of the world. We do not want to wake up every day to news of killing, bombing, death, and destruction.”
She was silent for a few moments as she looked around the place around her, and she asked, pointing with her hand to hundreds of tents spread over great distances: Is this life?
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) estimates that 1.9 million Palestinians out of 2.2 million in the small coastal strip, representing 85% of the total population of Gazans, have been forced to flee their homes and residential areas since the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza.
Like Lama, the majority of these displaced people are residents of Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, who were forced by the occupation army to migrate under fire to areas south of the Gaza Strip, then pursued them with bombing and killing and forced them to repeatedly migrate.
Lama says: “I want to go back to my school, my room, and my toys… What is the fault of us children who live in a cold tent and do not have enough blankets for the winter or good food?”
