Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip – Between her live television presentations, Khawla al-Khalidi takes a sip of water, or coffee if available, and checks her phone for updates.
Her husband, Baher, adjusts his hijab, murmuring words of encouragement, then stands next to the camera as al-Khalidi prepares for another live update.
The 34-year-old journalist, like many of her colleagues, practically lives in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which has become a makeshift office because it is one of the few places where the Internet works and journalists can recharge their phones and laptops. and other electronic devices.
“I have always loved journalism and have been working in this industry for 11 years,” al-Khalidi said. “I used to produce and present the morning show of Palestine TV, and since the start of this war, I also had the opportunity to work for the (Saudi) channels Al Hadath and Al Arabiya. »
Al-Khalidi has not stopped working since October 8, a day after Israel began its offensive on the Gaza Strip following unprecedented Hamas attacks on military bases and towns in southern Israel.
In the midst of war and its constant changes, all stability and daily routine are thrown out the window.
Al-Khalidi had barely worked a day in his usual office before the entire Gaza Strip was threatened with air raids. Her colleagues at Palestine TV were evacuated and she began working from home, doing live interviews with various channels by telephone.
One night, around midnight, during the first week of the bombing, she was conducting her last telephone interview of the day when she noticed Baher waving at her.
The Israelis were going to target their neighborhood, he told her, and they had to leave immediately.
“We received a message that we had to evacuate in 20 minutes,” she said. “I turned off my phonograph telling them that, then walked around the house in a daze, not knowing what to pack or take with me.”
Dream house destroyed
The couple and their four children – the eldest is 12 and the youngest five – stayed for about a week with al-Khalidi’s parents in Gaza City. On the second day, al-Khalidi learned that her beloved home, the one she and Baher had built together over 10 years, had been destroyed.
“At first, my family tried to downplay it by saying, ‘Oh, it was just the kitchen that caught fire,’ or that it was partially damaged by shrapnel,” she recalls. . “But everything was gone.
“Of course I cried, then I calmed down. A few days later, I cried again, then pulled myself together. I knew that this was the current situation in Gaza and that everyone was going through the same experience.
Al-Khalidi’s paintings were hung by Baher on the walls of their house. It was their dream home, and everything inside, from the furniture to the interior decor to what filled the nooks and crannies, had been lovingly chosen and made by husband and wife .
“At first I wasn’t struck by the disappearance of my house,” al-Khalidi said. “I feel it more now, every time we are moved further and further away.
“You realize it’s not about the money or the decor or the paints, it’s about having a private, safe space for you and your family to be together.”
The family woke up one morning to the sound of heavy shelling in the street. An Israeli airstrike targeted a house a few meters away, reducing it to rubble. The windows of Al-Khalidi’s parents’ house were shattered by the explosion and the journalist decided to leave for the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza to stay with her in-laws. his brother.
Al-Khalidi continued to work. She had her car and the roads were still not as dangerous or as damaged as they are today.
One day, while traveling to the Rafah border post to cover the movement of the second group of patients heading to Egypt for treatment, she heard on the radio that the Afaneh family house in al-Maghazi was targeted.
“This house is right next to where my husband and children are,” she said. “I tried calling my husband and my brother, but no one was answering their phones, so naturally I thought the worst. »
She turned around and went straight to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital with her heart in her throat.
Baher was at the entrance, immediately reassuring her that everyone was fine, except for a few stitches on her son Karam’s head. The couple then decided it was best to send their children to Rafah to stay with their other grandparents while they stayed in Deir el-Balah.
“My spine, my wings”
Over the past 12 days, the couple spoke to their children six to seven times a day, on every occasion when the phone lines were not cut.
“They would tell me every detail of their lives, from the lack of water and little food they had, to playing with their cousins and neighbors and what they were doing with their uncle that day,” said al-Khalidi. “Their main complaint was not being able to shower. »
Every day, she wakes up at dawn with her husband, prays, then they go to the hospital about 1 km away, walking hand in hand. Inside the hospital, she greets her colleagues, then connects to the internet to collect information about her first live at 8 a.m. for Al Arabiya. She continues until her last live at 4 p.m.
“I report on camera about 18 times a day,” she said. “In the end, I’m exhausted and I like to leave the hospital before dark. My husband and I walk back, and after changing clothes and eating a quick bite, I do phone interviews until 10 p.m.
She is full of praise for Baher, who is a prosecutor but has not worked since the start of the war.
“I wouldn’t be able to do half of what I do now without him,” she said, smiling.
“He encouraged me from day one, saying I had the ability to keep working and get my message across, something not all journalists have.”
It also comforts her to be at his side, whether simply feeling his presence among the many journalists, patients and displaced people living in the hospital courtyard or when he brings her water, coffee or food between his reports. He looks at each of her lives and gives her his opinion.
“He is my backbone, my wings,” al-Khalidi said. “You know the old adage that behind every great man is a great woman? Well, I also believe that behind every great woman there is a greater man. I’m lucky to have it.
The couple traveled to Rafah to see their children on Monday and realized it was no safer than other areas because Israeli warplanes and tanks had targeted the town. So they decided to take the children back to al-Khalidi’s aunt in Deir el-Balah. , where the couple resided.
“I was so excited to see them again,” she said. “My daughter Rama said she hasn’t hugged me in so long. I said to myself, “You know what, we either die together or we live together.” »
“Palestinian journalists are the best in the world”
The biggest challenges journalists face in carrying out their work during the war are lack of transportation, slow and unreliable internet connection, and lack of electricity. Many male journalists at the hospital have not seen their families in weeks and are sleeping on mattresses in the courtyard. As winter approaches, the lack of adequate shelter has become a major concern.
“I feel like every day I hear about a colleague whose family members were killed in an attack or their own death,” al-Khalidi said. “It makes me think, ‘Will I be next?’ Will my family be next?’
What motivates her to continue working, she says, is the hope that one day she will look into the camera and say, “And now Palestine is liberated.”
“For this time, I want to say: ‘The war is over. Go home,” she said. “Who said that the people of Gaza are used to conflict and strife? We are certainly not made to live in hospitals, nor to be repeatedly displaced, nor to flee bombs in the sky.
She is convinced that what drives Palestinian journalists to continue their work while facing such danger and witnessing unspeakable horrors is their belief in Palestinian freedom and self-determination.
“I consider Palestinian journalists to be the best in the world, because of their courage, their presentation, their language skills, their experience, their strength,” al-Khalidi said.
“This war made me appreciate all the little blessings in life,” she added. “It also strengthened my resolve and I will definitely build another house, an even better and more beautiful house than the last one.”