‘I couldn’t cry over my children like everyone else’: the tragedy of Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh. After his wife and two of his children were killed in Gaza, Al Jazeera journalist Wael al-Dahdouh became famous around the world for his decision to keep reporting. But this was just the start of his heartbreaking journey By Nesrine Malik

 Wael al-Dahdouh was live on air when he realised something was wrong. It was 25 October 2023, about 5pm, and Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza was standing on the roof of the channel’s office building, speaking about the day’s airstrikes. “It’s going to be a bloody night,” said Dahdouh, his voice playing over live images of the skyline, as explosions flared on the horizon.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dahdouh noticed his nephew Hamdan, a producer with Al Jazeera, looking agitated. Then Dahdouh’s mobile phone, slotted in his flak jacket, began to ring. Hamdan reached over, pulled the phone out and answered it. It was an odd thing to do while they were on air, Dahdouh thought. Alarmed, he addressed Hamdan. “Who is it?” Dahdouh asked, still audible to viewers. After a few seconds on the phone, Hamdan angrily kicked a wall. “What’s going on?” Dahdouh asked. Hamdan replied: “Your daughter. The girl is in the hospital. They have struck the place where your wife and family are.” Dahdouh took the phone. As viewers continued to see live scenes from Gaza, they could hear Dahdouh’s rising alarm and Hamdan’s flustered interjections in the background. Then the transmission cut to the studio in Doha.

On the phone was Dahdouh’s 21-year-old daughter, Khulood, who was bewildered and unable to give him a clear idea of what was happening. He hung up and rushed to Nuseirat camp seven miles away, where his wife and seven of his eight children had been sheltering in an Israeli-designated safe zone. When he arrived about 40 minutes later, Dahdouh found a chaotic scene. People were digging in the rubble with their hands, using their mobile phone torches to see. Some were in tears, others wailing the names of the dead. In the debris, Dahdouh found his 18-month-old grandson, Adam, covered in dust, unconscious. Cradling the boy in his arms, Dahdouh raced to al-Aqsa martyrs hospital 15 minutes away.

In the melee outside the hospital, Dahdouh found Khulood. When she saw Adam’s body in her father’s arms, she began screaming and stroking her nephew’s face. Then she collapsed, taking Dahdouh down with her, still clutching the toddler. Dahdouh staggered to his feet. Inside the building, he handed Adam to a doctor and began to search for the rest of his family, lurching through the throngs also looking for their loved ones, through corridors full of the wounded. Dahdouh’s reporting had made him famous in Gaza, and as he continued his search, asking if anyone had seen his wife and children, he started to realise that people were avoiding him, as if they knew something he didn’t. Then an ambulance brought in his youngest son, 12-year-old Yahya. His skull was exposed and his head drenched in blood, but he was conscious. Dahdouh rushed him to a doctor who began to sew up his wounds on the spot. There was no anaesthetic. Yahya screamed in pain... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/31/wael-al-dahdouh-gaza-palestinian-journalist-tragedy

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