When the Internet Goes Dark, the Truth Goes With It

Alaqad says that because traditional media outlets choose what they want to show their audiences, losing journalists on the ground means losing some of the truth. “When people are silenced and censored, and they don’t have the space to speak and the platform to express what’s happening, and for us to see what’s happening through their eyes, there will always be limits. [on] how much we know,” she says.

In every crisis, when communication breaks down, accountability disappears and injustice becomes easier to ignore. “Injustice is extremely loud,” Alaqad says. “Justice must be stronger. »

Target

Journalists are also constantly silenced. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wrote in December 2025 that 67 media professionals were killed that year, 43% of them in Gaza by Israeli armed forces. The total number of journalists killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023 stands at more than 220, according to RSF. The UN estimate is more than 260.

“When we look at the situation in the context of banning the foreign press from entering Gaza now, more than two years after the start of this war, as they restrict the free movement of journalists in and out of Gaza, when we talk about an unprecedented massacre of journalists, the targeting of media offices and the targeting of communications infrastructure becomes just another piece of this puzzle, which aims to impose a media blackout,” says Dagher. Israel has repeatedly denied claims that it targets journalists or media infrastructure.

“Killing journalists means killing and silencing the truth,” says Alaqad. In his experience, this strategy works on several levels: killing journalists means fewer people working on the ground, but it also turns journalists into a threat to the population. “It also sends a message to the population: all journalists are a threat, don’t talk to journalists, stay away from journalists,” she explains.

She remembers her mother begging her not to wear her press jacket and helmet. Intended to signify neutrality and protect journalists on the ground, it instead made him feel like a target. “It’s supposed to protect, but on the contrary, it actually endangers your life and even that of your loved ones and those around you,” she explains.

Alaqad says it wasn’t always like this. At first, people greeted the journalists, offered them food and thanked them for their work. “After a few months, when they saw journalists being targeted, Palestinians started treating journalists differently,” she said.

Reporting in Gaza meant working in a landscape where time itself was unstable and unguaranteed. Projects rarely extended beyond daylight. The conversations ended abruptly. Addresses became memorials overnight. “The only certainty in Gaza is uncertainty,” says Alaqad.

She remembers interviewing families and planning to return the next day, only to find that the people she spoke with had been killed in airstrikes.

She has since left Gaza and is pursuing a master’s degree in media studies at the American University of Beirut. She received the Shireen Abu Akleh Memorial Endowed Scholarship, named after the Palestinian journalist killed by Israeli forces in May 2022.

Digital truths

Going viral on social media helped her reach people, but it also put her in danger. “It showed millions of people around the world what is happening in Gaza, but at what cost? Being in Gaza could cost you your life, especially as a journalist,” she said.

Despite the reach of digital reporting, she is not confident in its sustainability. Accounts disappear, posts are deleted, and videos are lost. What’s available today could be gone tomorrow.