The Cradle@TheCradleMedia
AFP journalists' union warns: 'Without immediate intervention, Gaza’s last reporters will die':
21 July, 2025
"AFP has been working with one freelance writer, three photographers, and six freelance videographers in the Gaza Strip since the departure of its staff journalists in early 2024. Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report on what is happening in Gaza. International media has been barred from entering the territory for nearly two years.
We refuse to watch them die.
One of them, Bashar, has been a collaborator with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then as a freelance photographer, and since 2024 as the main photographer.
On Saturday, July 19, he managed to post a message on Facebook:
'I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin, and I can’t work anymore.'
Bashar, 30, works and lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another depending on the Israeli bombings. For over a year, he has lived in absolute destitution while continuing to work at great personal risk. Hygiene has become a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illnesses.
Since February, Bashar has been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, four brothers and sisters, and the family of one of his brothers. Their home has been stripped of all furnishings and comforts, with only a few cousins nearby. On Sunday morning, he reported that his younger brother had 'collapsed from hunger.'
Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, there is often nothing to buy or prices are outrageously high. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange online account balances take a 40% commission.
AFP can no longer ensure they have access to drinking water or enough fuel to allow them to travel for reporting. Driving a car essentially means risking being a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters now move mostly on foot or in a cart pulled by a donkey.
Ahlam, another journalist, survives in the south of Gaza. She insists on 'testifying' for as long as she can. 'Every time I leave the tent to cover an event, do an interview, or document something, I don’t know if I’ll come back alive.'
Her biggest problem, she confirms, is the lack of food and water.
We see their situation worsening. They are young, and their strength is fading. Most no longer have the physical capacity to travel the enclave to do their job. Their cries for help, heartbreaking, are now daily.
In recent days, their short messages have shown us that they no longer have much hope and that the courage they’ve shown for months while the world looked away will no longer be enough to help them survive.
We may learn of their deaths at any moment, and that thought is unbearable. This Sunday, Bashar wrote:
'For the first time, I feel defeated.'
Later that same day, he told one of us he’d be grateful 'if you could explain that we live every day between death and starvation,' and:
'I wish President Macron could help me get out of this hell.'
Ahlam is still holding on.
'I try to continue my work, to be the voice of the people, to document the truth despite all attempts to silence me. Here, resisting is not a choice: it’s a necessity.'
Since AFP’s founding in 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have seen our staff wounded and imprisoned—but none of us can recall ever having a colleague die of hunger."
– The outgoing Board of the SDJ (AFP Journalists’ Union)
