Photographer Ali Jadallah: I am looking for a human moment inside death in Gaza policy

Gaza- When Palestinian photojournalist Ali Jadallah received a call from the office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan informing him that he had won the “Grand Prize for Culture and Arts,” as the first Palestinian to be honored with this high honor, he felt proud mixed with sadness.

Jadallah was happy with this achievement and considered it an appreciation for the suffering of the Palestinian people and their steadfastness on their land. But at the same time, he felt sad because he received the news alone. He had hoped that his family, part of which the occupation had killed and displaced the remaining part outside the Gaza Strip, would share with him the joy of this occasion.

His family home was subjected to Israeli bombing at the beginning of the war, resulting in the death of his father and three of his brothers, and the serious injury of his mother. As for his wife and children, he preferred to evacuate them from the Gaza Strip with his mother, who left for treatment, in order to preserve their lives.

The decision to stay

Since the beginning of the war, international media decided to evacuate their correspondents from Gaza in conjunction with the occupation’s decision to prevent the entry of foreign press. But Jadallah, who works as a photojournalist for the Turkish Anadolu News Agency, refused to leave and decided to remain in the Strip.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, he said, “My stay was a personal decision and a humanitarian commitment because I felt that the world needed to see the truth directly from Gaza.” He feels satisfied with the success of Palestinian journalists in “exposing the crimes of the occupation, despite Israeli attempts at obfuscation.”

He confirms, “This is a genocide that was documented by Gazan journalists who lived through death, loss, displacement, famine, fear, lack of capabilities, and more.”

Jadallah considers the responsibility of reporting and documenting crimes after his colleagues left, and not allowing foreign journalists to enter, as a “very big burden,” adding, “I felt a double responsibility, as I now have to document everything possible before time runs out, while preserving my safety.”

He continues, “Today I believe that I was right in choosing to remain in Gaza, as I believe that I served my country, its people, and myself appropriately, and I feel satisfied with it.”

Covering the war was a double experience for Jadallah, because he was not only a journalist reporting the events, but he was also part of the victims after the occupation killed his father and three brothers, seriously injured his mother, and demolished his private home.

Personal dimension

He explains his feelings about the impact of what he was exposed to on his professional work, saying, “The targeting of my family and the destruction of my home added a personal dimension to the coverage, and made every image and scene more painful and honest. The pain was an additional motivation to continue working, but it was also a challenge to maintain professional neutrality.”

Over the course of two years, Jadallah’s lens succeeded in capturing many photos that revealed the horror of the occupation’s crimes in the Gaza Strip, and they were reported by major media outlets. They were not fleeting snapshots, but rather living testimonies of the genocide.

One of his most famous photos during the war was of a woman escaping from an Israeli missile explosion, carrying her daughter, while trying to cover herself with a yellow blanket. It became an icon of the genocidal war on Gaza, as it was reported by media around the world.

Regarding its circumstances, Jadallah explains: “I captured it at a crucial moment when the woman was fleeing the bombing, carrying her child. She tried to cover herself with any piece of cloth and escape from under the bombing into the unknown. The moment was full of fear and pain.”

The list of his photographs also includes painful scenes of mothers bidding farewell to their children, destroyed neighborhoods, ambulance men desperately trying to save the wounded, scenes of mass displacement, and victims of the Israeli starvation policy. All of them painted an honest picture of Gaza’s suffering.

Jadallah tries to focus on the human dimension of the image, “so that it conveys pain and suffering in a way that everyone can understand.” He added, “Sometimes a picture goes beyond words. I tried to make each one a living document, and for its owners not to be just numbers. I was looking for a human moment inside death and hell.”

His preparation for taking the photo begins with in-depth knowledge of the field, following developments, preparing equipment, anticipating the most dangerous locations, preparing psychologically and physically, and being able to act quickly in the event of any unexpected event. He added, “All these preparations mean nothing in the face of a missile from warplanes.”

Respect the truth

Regarding the way this Palestinian photographer deals with various events, he says, “Expected events require advance planning, while unexpected events require vigilance, high sensitivity, and quick response to maintain safety and accurately convey the event.”

He reveals the secret of his ability to quickly reach the scene of events and take live photographs of what is happening. He said, “Gaza is small for me. I know it well and I memorize every street in it. Therefore, experience and knowledge of the field have a prominent role in tracking the event and following up on the information firsthand. It helps to arrive before others sometimes. But always with safety in mind as much as possible.”

The young photographer seeks to convey the scene in an effective way that makes the viewer feel the place and the event, while respecting the truth, as “creativity does not mean striving to beautify the image.” He continues, “Therefore, I focused on conveying the truth without a filter as it is on the ground. There is no room for creativity between the pieces, and therefore here creativity is in capturing the image quickly and humanizing it as it is.”

Like other journalists in Gaza, Jadallah was exposed to the risk of death many times, and he said, “The occupation sometimes tries to target journalists to restrict coverage, and I faced this directly in some moments.”

Like his people, he suffered scourges during the war. Some nights he was forced to sleep in the street and on the side of the road, and live in tents.

He also faced great difficulties in obtaining the electricity and internet supplies necessary for his work. The experiences of displacement are among the most difficult he has gone through. He says, “Displacement is tearing the soul away from the body. It is leaving your home, your place, and your neighborhood for a place where you feel like a stranger. It is bad to carry your home in a backpack.”

Jadallah’s memory preserves many unforgettable events; Such as scenes of children, destroyed homes, and the last moments before the bombing. He says, “You cannot forget the looks of an injured child as he pleads with the doctors to save him so that he does not die,” revealing that he refrained from taking many pictures, due to the difficulty of the matter for himself.

He hopes that the Culture and Arts Award, which he received from the Turkish presidency, will be an additional opportunity for the world to look again at what is happening in the Gaza Strip in terms of “systematic genocide.”

He concluded his speech by sending a message to the world affirming that “humanity is above all considerations, and the Palestinian voice must be heard, and we must stand with justice and truth, so that we can all see a free Palestine.”