Experiencing Gaza through the lens of Hamza Chalan

From left, Ponty Moletsane (Salaamedia), Inayet Wadee (Salaamedia), Hamza Chalan (Main Guest Speaker), Nicole Collier-Naidoo (PSO) and Zaahidah Meyer (Young Hearts 4 Palestine)

Gqeberha was the first stop on Chalan’s South African tour sharing his work and his story as a citizen of occupied Palestine, and a resident in the North of Gaza – an area that over the last year, has been systematically carpet-bombed and razed to the ground by the Israeli occupying forces.

Chalan is recognised as one of the first English-language journalists covering Gaza even before the genocide.

He has been featured on several global media platforms such as Al Jazeera Arabic, RT, and TRT World.

With the healthcare system deliberately targeted and destroyed, Chalan’s father was unable to access the care he needed as a dialysis patient.

After being displaced three times, Chalan’s family made the decision to leave Gaza to find treatment for his father.

The family was able to leave during one of the periods in which it was still possible, although inordinately expensive, to flee via the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

Since escaping the genocide, Chalan has continued to work tirelessly to bring attention to the human rights catastrophe Gazans are facing at the hands of the Israeli state.

His work also shares the voices of the millions of people who remain trapped in Gaza and the increasingly besieged Occupied West Bank and Lebanon who are facing the slaughter of their people and cannot or will not flee their ancestral lands.

Chalan’s presentation juxtaposed shots of the destruction of the homes and lives of Gazans with footage, capturing the course of a day spent editing footage and working as a photojournalist inside the tent his family lived in.

He is surrounded by the voices of other displaced families trying to survive, with children playing nearby, underpinned by the anxiety-inducing, ever-present threat of bombing.

To hear from Chalan in person was to have the opportunity to fill in the gaps between the coverage one’s sees on social media and the reality of what it is like to be a human being enduring a genocide.

His story often brought the audience to tears and reinvigorated our commitment to solidarity with Palestine and with all oppressed peoples, said Nicole Collier-Naidoo from PSO.

In his speech welcoming Chalan, Journalism lecturer in Media and Communication, Jude Mathurine, shared some of the shocking statistics related to journalists in Gaza.

“The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 137 journalists have lost their lives in [this genocide]. To put this in perspective, in the Russian-Ukraine war, 15 journalists and media workers lost their lives in 2022,” he said.

Mathurine also highlighted an aspect that Chalan himself emphasised during his presentation: “[T]his is not war journalism either because you would need journalists to cover a war.” Instead, Israel has banned international journalists from entering and covering Gaza.

As Chalan pointed out, this leaves the responsibility of documenting the genocide to Gazans themselves, hence the number of Gazans working in various aspects of media who have been thrown headfirst into war journalism to tell the story of their people, in what is being referred to as ‘the world’s first live-streamed genocide.’

The audience also heard from Inayet Wadee from Salaamedia, who are hosting Chalan’s South African tour. Wadee explained that their commitment to supporting Palestinian journalists and platforming their stories is driven by “the need for alternative independent media […] given the false sensationalist and often Islamophobic narratives on our screens and via influencer networks.

Salaamedia works closely with credible factual on-the-ground journalists in various parts of the world who seek to put forward the correct narrative without fear of censorship.”

Zaahida Meyer, of Young Hearts for Palestine, reminded the audience not to take for granted the stories of the journalists on the ground in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, who “risk their lives to ensure that the stories of the oppressed, the marginalised, and the silenced are not buried beneath the rubble of battle.”

She encouraged the audience to continue “bearing witness to the atrocities committed against the Palestinians.” She added: “[I]f we cannot fix the injustice, the least we could do is tell everyone about it.”

Nelson Mandela University was one of the first universities in this country to pass comprehensive resolutions by Senate and Council to support the call for a ceasefire and for the boycotting, sanctioning and divestment of Israeli-linked academics, businesses and organisations.